“'For Those in Peril on the Sea' makes dying
at sea sound like something noble, patriotic.
Whereas their husband, son or father has
died for one half of a fish and chip supper…”
February 1976. In freezing weather off the coast of Iceland, the sidewinder Graham Greene ices up, heels over, and sinks in seconds, taking fifteen of her crew with her. Such are the realities of the brutal world of arctic fishing. On impulse, despised trawlerowner Donald Claxton flies to Reykjavik to see the survivors, setting in train an evening of drinking, horseplay, romance and storytelling that will change all their lives forever.
Richard Bean revisits Hull's Distant Water trawling fleet that gave him his 2005 hit Under the Whaleback. His other plays include
To Have and To Hold, Kiss Me
and
In the Club
at Hampstead, One
Man, Two
Guvnors
Jack Absolute Flies Again
at the National Theatre.