Set the Thames on Fire 2015

Art, Michael Winder, is a down-on-his-luck pianist whose life has stalled in a grief-filled frozen moment, shipwrecked on the lonesome shore of his own existence. Sal, Max Bennett, is a cracked pinball machine—brimming with energy, light and mischief, yet out of control and dangerously chaotic. Having escaped from Bedlam Psychiatric Hospital, Sal moves through life with a carefree boldness that masks a volatile streak, making him an easy-going, sweet-natured imp of the perverse and a source of trouble.

The two boys meet while working as the help at a vile cocktail party hosted by the rich and corrupt. They find a surprising connection, discovering refuge in each other—a small, shared lifeboat on a drunken voyage through a stormy London night. The gathering hums with a sense of excess and arrogance, a backdrop that amplifies their bond and sets the stage for a clash between two very different currents.

At the party, the elegant and sophisticated Colette Collette Cooper reads the dangerously paranoid Impresario’s tarot cards, foretelling the demise of the old, bloated and corrupt. The reading feels like a whispered omen, and it seems to push events toward a pattern that may be part of a grand, unseen plan or the simple byproduct of a universe that doesn’t—at first glance—care.

As the tale unfolds, the boys are drawn into the gears of a larger machine, moving like two rats caught in the clockwork of Big Ben. The relentless tempo of the city—the cogs turning, the clock hands sweeping forward—drags them toward a terrifying climax, where each choice feels loaded with consequence and fate seems to tighten its grip. The tension builds around a confrontation between two starkly different natures: the Impresario’s unyielding drive for progress, greed, and brutality, and the boys’ yearning for freedom, friendship and beauty.

Throughout this struggle, the Thames looms in the background, dark and powerful, a constant presence that embodies nature, chance, and instinct. It serves as a fluid, enduring force that could either cradle or sweep away the fragile hopes forged in this collision of heart and imagination against raw, unfeeling brutality. The narrative balances intimate human connection with a broader sense of looming inevitability, inviting viewers to question what counts as progress and what price is paid for chasing it.