Synopsis Barney and Nicola are advertising wonder kids. They win accounts with wit, charm and a secret weapon - Barney’s ability to feel, smell and taste colours, and to translate these sensations into words. Lately Barney has been finding things way too colourful and wishes his full throttle London life was more black and white, but Nicola is hell bent on winning accounts at all costs. When the two hire an old Scottish Whisky Taster to help them with a new campaign, his strange wisdom slows the Londoners to a stop, just as the deadline looms. A technicolour story about seeing things too clearly in a city that never stands still.
Here’s a rum do: a play about selling the sizzle in the drinks market in a cocktail glass of a transparent design with the eponymous taster turning up at the advertising agency in full Scottish fig: white beard, tartan kilt, knobbly knees, the lot.
The taster is played with glowering command by John Stahl, lately pinning together ensemble productions at the Globe and the RSC but here somewhat floundering to find a foothold.
He’s not alone. James Graham’s play, directed by James Grieve, newly appointed artistic director of Paines Plough, is signally impressive in this respect alone: it seems to amount to more or less nothing at all but is performed with the sort of conviction that convinces an audience it must have missed something.
The advertising whizz kids have called in the old man to help verify their campaign of making vodka taste like whisky. The satirical, not very original, point being that you can convince people of anything if you sell it hard enough.
Samuel Barnett as thrusting young executive Barney with an unusual gift for translating smell, tastes and colours into words - the talent of synaesthesia - and Kate O'Flynn as the hysterically ruthless Nicola, launch their rivalry, and their campaign, against a “city that never sleeps” background that Barney is suddenly finding too overpowering.
They are joined at crucial moments by a senior accounts manager in a ludicrously checked shirt and very fine shoes (Simon Merrells, last seen as Marlon Brando in the Berkoff On the Waterfront) and a languidly disinterested and confused manager in a pinstriped suit (Chris Larkin).
They can all sing a rainbow - Graham’s script has bright flashes of colour and doesn’t mind about meaning too much, and reminded me of early Stephen Poliakoff - and the two hours flash by pleasantly enough. The drink has a good nose, a fine bush possibly, and slips down easily. But we’ve all been conned at the end, which is maybe the point the show is making.
There’s another amazing design by Lucy Osborne, with the audience ranged, traverse-style, either side of a Perspex stage that resembles one of those large, fashionable canapé trays, lit with flashing neon strips by James Farncombe with clever sound by Emma Laxton.
I thoroughly enjoyed this highly original and rather delightful play. The dialogue is well turned and frequently hilarious, and the whole production moves at a great pace. Special mention must be made of the lighting and sound designs: what can only be described as the Synaesthesia sequences are little short of exhilarating.In a strong cast, John Stahl, Jason Merrells and Chris Larkin are very funny and if Kate O'Flynn's Nicola seems a little hard-edged to be truly credible as the object of unrequited love, she redeems herself beautifully in the second half. The star however is unquestionably the wonderful Samuel Barnett, by turns hilarious and deeply affecting as the gifted, sensitive Barney. Another little gem at the Bush! - ajh
28 Jan 10
Sorry, but this one is a real dud. Cringe-inducing dialogue and a terrible cliche-ridden storyline. The all-too brief appearances of John Stahl as the Whisky Taster (played in a somewhat cartoon character Scotsman mode) are the only mitigating factors. The other characters are played in the most lifeless manner. After the fantastic Stefan Golaszewski Plays earlier this month at the Bush this is a real disappointment. - Clark Fenton
7 Uxbridge Road Shepherds Bush Green Inner London London W12 8LJ
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Bush alumni include Conor MacPherson, Anthony Neilson, Bob Hoskins, Alan Rickman, Catherine Johnson, Julie Walters, Kate Beckinsale, Richard Bean and many many more. Only new plays are produced at this intimate venue and The Bush reads every script it is sent - currently 1500 a year, commissions up to 7 new plays a year and works with young writers to develop their skills. If you want to see the best, first - see it at The Bush. Moved in 2011 from Shepherds Bush Green to the old Shepherd's Bush Library.
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