Writer: Max Wilkinson
Director: Wiebke Green
It’s the biggest night of Saskia’s life; she is just about to sign the contract of a huge plan to rebuild and gentrify Park Royal. But something makes her bolt from the boardroom and we meet her sweaty, panicked and running down the Union Canal back to her East London home.
Union looks at themes of gentrification and change square in the face, as Saskia, played by Dominique Tipper, is confronted with the clash between her West London developer present and her East London teenager past. Think A Christmas Carol but Scrooge is a relentlessly unlikeable property executive and the ghost of Christmas past is someone who fingered her in a car park fifteen years earlier.
There is nothing particularly new or exciting in the script itself, both in terms of form and content. Plays about gentrification are about as ubiquitous in London as Pret A Mangers and unfortunately, writer Max Wilkinson struggles to bring something new to the conversation. Gentrification is bad, we gather, but also maybe London was bad before gentrification too? Saskia herself doesn’t seem to know her own viewpoint on it and spends the entire play vehemently defending urban development whilst self-flagellating and calling herself the devil. It’s all quite one note until she’s forced to make a decision at the end. Wilkinson never finds the beat with Saskia and for a play of this length, you’d expect to see some character development.
There are some moments of real humour and promise that make this show an engaging watch, despite being perhaps 20 minutes too long. Sorcha Kennedy shines in her multi-rolling, bringing a hilarious vividity to every character she plays and she is particularly brilliant as Kerry who is both funny and desperately sad. Andre Bullock is not always believable as Fraser but is wonderfully playful and charming in his smaller roles. Tipper plays Saskia as restless, in-your-face, exaggerated, which she does well but takes away from any real humanity in the script.
Direction by Wiebke Green is tight, functional and brings the best out of the ensemble cast, fully utilising the set and costume design by Kit Hinchliffe where everything is used and nothing is out of place.
Overall this show is solid and the script delivers everything that is promised, but unfortunately, that is not recipe enough for a great play. Union doesn’t light fires, change minds, say anything new about the themes or do anything new dramaturgically. It’s fine. It will be interesting to see what Wilkinson writes next, but for now, if you want 80 minutes on gentrification, go to your local town hall meeting.
Runs until 12 August 2023
