THE KILLING OF A UNION LEADER. Written and directed by Louis Viljoen. With John Maytham, Emma Kotze, Sizwesandile Mnisi and Carl Beukes. Set and lighting: Kieran McGregor.
KAREN RUTTER reviews
Shakespeare meets Game of Thrones meets Succession in the latest theatrical outing from award-winning playwright Louis Viljoen. Billed as a political thriller, it introduces a cast of four unlikable characters enmeshed in a play for power – be it the power of money, or the power of position. There are Machiavellian levels of manipulation throughout, making this the key focus of the play. Rather than the whodunnit factor usually associated with a thriller, The Killing of a Union Leader leans into the why, and therein lies the thrust of the narrative. Everybody is out to score, and everybody has a reason for this.
While ostensibly set in a no-name-brand landscape with key forces simply referred to as The Party, for instance, it’s not difficult to transplant the script into a local setting – or, for that matter, into Trump’s America or Starmer’s UK. It’s night time in a city where a trade union strike has has left blood on the streets and the potential for a major power shift. The strike is led by a formidable union leader, a champion of the workers. Opposite him is a ruthless industrialist watching his empire crack apart, clinging desperately to control alongside his fiercely ambitious daughter. They enlist the aid of a political fixer, who has ties to another unionist with his own agenda. Ultimately, every move is calculated, and every player has a motive.
Morally bankrupt
Louis Viljoen’s script barrels along at a ferocious pace, fuelled by characters so morally bankrupt that not one of them offers a flicker of redemption. They are cruel, manipulative, foul-mouthed and utterly ruthless – and Viljoen clearly relishes every vicious exchange. His trademark shock-value obscenities arrive thick and fast; but at times they feel overplayed, drowning out the sharper writing hidden beneath them. Which is a pity, because between the verbal grenades are lines of real bite that cut far deeper than the profanity.
And then there’s the sexual dialogue, which feels less provocative than adolescent – wheeled out like the readers’ letters page of a dog-eared old Playboy magazine. When the script trusts its intelligence instead of its need to shock, it’s far more dangerous.
There are some wonderful performances by the cast, lead by a magnificent, Lear-like John Maytham. He dominates as the snarling patriarch at the centre of the chaos – a corporate raider who has spent a lifetime taking what he wants and has no intention of giving any of it back. Maytham plays him with a cold, commanding menace, the kind of man who would rather burn the kingdom to the ground than surrender a single piece of it.
Conviction, nuance and bite
As his daughter, Emma Kotze plays it as a kind of brunette Shiv (from Succession), clearly on top of her role although oddly stiff at times. Sizwesandile Mnisi brings an authentic, almost-human feel to the mix, while Carl Beukes is a suitably slimy spin doctor.
There is the potential for stereotyping in The Killing of a Union Leader – the cruel capitalist, the noble trade unionist, the scheming fixer, the desperate daughter, the ambitious leader of the people. It’s saved by some nifty dialogue and good casting. What keeps it engaging, despite those familiar archetypal contours, is the sharpness of the writing and the strength of the ensemble, who bring enough conviction, nuance and bite to lift the material beyond its more predictable edges.
What: The Killing of a Union Leader
Where and when: Artscape’s Arena Theatre from 12 to 30 May 2026
Tickets: Webtickets
Photographs: Daniel Rutland
WS
