W hen describing his own play, the late playwright Edward Bond said he wanted The Sea to deal with tragedy, be a comedy and end with people being as honest and open as they could. Jonathan Munby’s production – the first major revival in almost 20 years – begins by offering its audience a view that would ordinarily be obscured: we’re plunged underwater to where the seafaring Colin (Elliot Goodhill) hangs suspended from a rope, fighting for his life, as the waves of Luke Halls’ impressive videography engulf him.

It’s a fitting opening sequence for a play that subsequently demands its audience look beneath the surface to find meaning in seemingly trivial interactions. It’s jarring when, come the following scene, we’re flung into a draper’s shop, where Jennifer Saunders’ avaricious, egotistical Mrs Rafi is fussing over curtain material. But Bond understood consumerism as a distraction from the pain and absurdity of life.…