In Richard Bean’s play Reyjavik, showing at Hampstead Theatre in a world premiere, the setting is the world of trawler fishing off the coast of Ireland. A ship has been lost.
The seven-person cast, four doubling up roles, make a powerful ensemble in this fascinating play. We see matters through the eyes of Donald Claxton (a nicely understated John Hollingworth), a businessman who runs the fleet.
Ghostly voices in the sound design (by Christopher Shutt) and suggestive visuals (set design by Anna Reid) underline the crisis that has left women widowed, children fatherless, and good men drowned.
At first, a deeply dramatic, foreboding piece, Reyjavik takes its time unfolding a story over two and a half hours. The pace is fairly slow but effective. The village takes its time, there is no rush here.
By the time we meet the disparate survivors in act two, the tone becomes a little lighter, finding nuggets of humour within the tragedy. Matthew Durkan’s Jack and Matt Sutton’s Baggie are both sides of a well-worn character coin.
Oliver Fenwick’s lighting gives an eerie feel both to the realism of Donald’s office in act one, and in Icelandic climes in act two.
Director Emily Burns suggested the first act to Bean, and it does jar a little with the shipwrecked setting of the second half, in which stories are swapped (The Weir feels like a clear influence).
The stories and conversations range from politics to pop culture, fishing quotas to flashing on film. It’s a fitting way to spend the time before a rescue.
With a sense of brutal bravado and gritty gumption, where Reyjavik shines is in its sense of magic, of something just out of reach of the everyday.
It’s a rather male-dominated play, but Laura Elsworthy as one of the wives, and Sophie Cox (as Donald’s secretary) are good with well-defined roles and some good lines.
Reyjavik is just the tonic for the season, as Halloween blends into the freeze of winter.
***.5
Reyjavik continues until 23 Nov with tickets here.
Image credit: Mark Douet