Review: The World Is Falling In Around Us, Union Theatre

The Union Theatre’s One Act Festival is in full, bustling summer swing – a welcome celebration of new writing, with proceeds supporting the theatre’s Covid Relief Fund. And while the pandemic now feels like a distant, bad dream, the reminder is timely: many theatres are still fighting to keep their doors open. As a millennial crowd stream in to sit shoulder-to-shoulder in a packed auditorium – something we once weren’t sure we’d ever do again – it feels both nostalgic and quietly triumphant.

Treasa Nealon’s sharply observed play dives head first into the chaos of millennial relationships or, more accurately, the gaping void where relationships should be. The set, designed by Eizo Zhao, is a curated explosion of cardboard boxes, a TV, an open suitcase and the kind of domestic debris that says ‘I’m fine’ while very much not being fine. It’s detailed, immersive and… hard to see. Anyone seated from row four onwards can only view the actors obstruction-free from the waist up, and only when they’re standing. It’s a shame, as one suspects the lower half of the performance was doing some excellent work.

The elaborate set may also have contributed to the fashionably late start – and while Zhao’s design is undeniably meticulous, it ultimately proves more cumbersome than crucial; a streamlined approach would have delivered the same emotional tone with far less fuss. Less, in this case, could absolutely have been more and might have spared the collective neck-craning that became an unintentional warm-up act.

Tumba Katanda provides the night’s standout performance as Grace, an overworked People Manager whose life is dictated – tyrannised, really – by her alarm clock. Katanda nails every comedic beat Nealon threads through the script, playing a woman who is both crushingly lonely and utterly desperate to be left alone. It’s a delicate balance and she handles it with the buoyancy of someone teetering on the brink but determined to appear functional while doing so.

Her unexpected bond with her neighbour Jo, played by Julie Coleman, begins with a threat of a noise complaint (against her and the alarm clock – fair enough). Jo, initially imagined by Grace as a tortured poet, turns out to be yet another corporate casualty. Her monologue, bathed in an eerie red glow, lays bare the daily indignities and unsolicited advances she endures. Coleman’s performance is one of contained fury, fear and frustration: a swan gliding serenely on water while paddling like hell beneath the surface. The sound design by Vyvyan Stewardson and lighting by Baysalt Gui elevate this moment into something chillingly resonant.

Nealon’s writing captures a modern isolation we’ve normalised far too easily; living in towering apartment blocks where the only thing we know about our neighbours is how loudly they live through the walls. Yet despite the bleakness, the play refuses to wallow. As their world seems to crumble financially, mentally, existentially, these two women find an anchor in each other. It’s messy, unlikely and exactly the sort of connection that keeps us from disappearing into the abyss.

And that’s where the hope lies. For a millennial audience navigating burnout, rising rent and the relentless emotional admin of simply existing – all while quietly fearing we’re each unravelling in our own little boxes – Nealon offers a reminder that even in the darkness and chaos, connection is possible: we find each other. Despite everything, we still show up together, in a crowded theatre, ready to laugh, to listen and to believe in something a little better.

Writer: Treasa Nealon
Director: Valerie Mo
Set Designer: Eizo Zhao
Sound Designer: Vyvyan Stewardson
Lighting Designer: Baysalt Gui
Assistant Director: Georgia Grace Gavin

The World Is Falling in Around Us has now completed its run as part of The One Act Festival.