The Schuman Plan

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.