Edinburgh play stages Matthew Webb's Channel swim with his body on a dissection table

Adam Riches' solo play 'The Captain' at Summerhall's Anatomy theatre, Edinburgh, tells of Matthew Webb, who on 25 August 1875 became the first person to swim the English Channel unaided — 21 hours 45 minutes unbroken. Riches plays Fred Beckwith, Webb's coach, delivering a lecture-cum-eulogy beside Webb's shrouded body on a dissection table. The Guardian reviewed it on 26 August 2026.