Reykjavik

‘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 1975. 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 trawler fishing. On impulse, despised trawler-owner Donald Claxton flies to Reykjavik to see the survivors, setting in train an evening of drinking, horseplay, romance and story-telling 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, and One Man, Two Guvnors and Jack Absolute Flies Again at the National Theatre. Emily Burns makes her Hampstead Theatre debut. Her previous productions have included Dear Octopus and Jack Absolute Flies Again (National Theatre) and Love’s Labour’s Lost (RSC) We are grateful to Lin & Ken Craig for kindly supporting this production.