‘The city is sweet and summered and partly asleep. The city is angry. And tonight: one of us is going to die.’
On the eve of the biggest deal of her career, Saskia, an uber-successful property developer runs from the meeting, all the way home down the Grand Union Canal. Plagued by phone calls and ghosts, she meets a myriad of characters looking to make or break her. She realises, as her shiny life unravels, that she doesn’t know herself anymore or the city she once loved. Can she still save a little piece of it?
Union is a wildly hilarious odyssey through London, in all its brilliant, booze-soaked yuppified but still punk glory. Just as Saskia fears she is losing her own soul to greed, it’s about the fear that London is losing that same battle but is still defined by a beautiful beating heart and the people who live in it.
Born from creative workshops led for several years by Max with local communities across London, Union is a black comedy, a love letter and a passionate call to arms. Union follows Max Wilkinson’s hit play Rainer which played at the Arcola last summer. His other works includes 100 Ways the Fire Starts (Theatre503, Old Red Lion), Ghost Fruit (Camden People’s Theatre), Hong Kong City (King’s Head Theatre), Wannsee (Bridewell Theatre, Courtyard Theatre), and Tom, Charlie, Jerry and Fritz (Central Saint Martins).
Wiebke Green directs. Her credits incluide The New York Times Critics’ Pick and OffWestEnd OnComm Winner The Poltergeist by Philip Ridley at the Arcola Theatre. Direction includes Offie-nominated The Journey to Venice (Finborough Theatre), Tarantula (Southwark Playhouse), The Beast will Rise (Online series for Tramp Productions), Sadness and Joy in the Life of Giraffes (Orange Tree Theatre), This Might Not Be It (R&D project with Bush Theatre and Broccoli Arts), and Everybody Cares, Everybody Understands (Vault Festival). She trained at the Orange Tree Theatre with an MA in Theatre Directing, and as Intern Director to Katie Mitchell on Orlando ( Schaubühne Berlin) and Anatomie eines Suizids (Schauspielhaus Hamburg). Assistant Direction includes Scrounger (Finborough Theatre), Dealing with Clair (Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond), The Beast of Blue Yonder (ArtsEd), and The Frontier Trilogy and Sirenia (Edinburgh Fringe). Her work with drama schools includes In The Forest of Starlight and Shrapnel (RWCMD & The Yard Theatre) Heather’s Wedding (Mountview) and As You Like It, Julius Caesar, and Cannibals (London School of Dramatic Art).
Content warnings: Some references to drugs and drug-use, some flashing lights, some references to mental health, suicide and self-harm.
Praise for RAINER by Max Wilkinson
★★★★ – All That Dazzles
★★★★ – The Upcoming
★★★★ – Always Time For Theatre
★★★★ – Salterton Arts Review
★★★★ “A fast-paced black comedy that does not shy away from pain, but ultimately offers hope.” – A Young(ish) Perspective
★★★★ “Wilkinson's writing is fast and paced, witty and intelligent.” – Everything Theatre
★★★★ “Conveys the madness, the enthusiasm and the contradictions of living and working in London” – Paul in London
“Max Wilkinson's outstanding new play...writing like this can create a difference” – Plays International
