Wannsee

Directed By: Max Wilkinson
Written By: Max Wilkinson
Presented By: Graduates of the Oxford School of Drama, The Court Theatre Training Company and Central Saint Martins

Wannsee (Van-zee) is a portrait of two cities - London and Berlin.

It is a hot summer and Woods, a young writer moves to Berlin. Following in the footsteps of Auden, Kafka, and of course Christopher Isherwood, he moves to the city to lead ‘the literary life’. But in the end all he can do is quote. Not only his writing but his behaviour, his actions and even his speech, become gratingly familiar and trite. He falls into despair.

Carson, a native to Berlin, indulges in memories of what the city used to be like pre-unification: a political melting pot still divided by the Wall. He perceives the massive influx of refugees into the city that summer, alongside the rumbling of fascist groups, with both excitement and fear.

Ophelia is an estate agent and compared with a 'true metropolis' like London, she thinks Berlin is like a swamp. However the city is a gap in the market which she is ready to fill, and fast.

The play is about desire and disappointment. About constant returns to the past, that grow from a frustration with the present. A play about desiring conflict or originality over comfort and peace. A wildly absurd and humorous treatment of contemporary themes.