The story of post-war Britain and its love-hate relationship with Europe, recounted as a thrilling, fast-moving epic of machiavellian politics and private heartbreak.
In 1950, in the wake of the Second World War, Robert Schuman, the French Foreign Minister, attempts to secure a permanent peace in Europe by putting his name to a controversial plan to unite it economically. Fifty-five years on, is he turning in his grave?
The Schuman Plan tells the story of Bill Bretherton – a passionate Europhile – and the colourful personalities that alternately confirm and erode his idealism. Back-stabbing politicians, volatile Suffolk fishermen, fraudulent Sicilian Mafiosi, his old pal Teddy Heath and the girl from the Ministry whom he loves to the end – all play their part in this revealing epic that spans five decades but just one continent.
Tim Luscombe's play was first staged at Hampstead Theatre in 2006.
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'A touching account of how local livelihoods are blighted by European rules and giant factory-fishing vessels ... fascinating'
" - Guardian
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'Sharply funny ... an intelligent and intricate attempt to explore the contradictions and shifts in our response to the European Ideal'
" - Independent
