The Schuman Plan

Spanning seventy years from the 1930s to the present day, this epic play follows the career of Bill Bretherton and his adventures in the labyrinth that divides Britain from Europe. Though hailing from a small Suffolk fishing village, Bill rises through the post-war ranks of the Civil Service, first under Attlee and then as Ted Heath's private secretary, resigning in protest at Heath's refusal to protect the British fishing industry. He goes to Strasbourg as a Eurocrat, only to witness the wholesale corruption engendered by farm subsidies. Disillusioned, he ends up as an inspector for MAFF (the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries) supervising the destruction of the very fishing boats his family had once depended on for their livelihood...Schuman, by the way, was the French Foreign Minister who first promulgated the economic unification of Europe. Sweeping like a David Edgar play over the history of post-war Britain, but constantly rooting itself in the ordinary lives of its citizens, "The Schuman Plan" premieres at Hampstead in February 2006.