The Whisky Taster
Bush Theatre, London
Advertising has always had a bad press. I mean, isn’t it the role of adverts to sell goods to people who don’t want them, have never even heard of them and certainly can’t afford them? Still, someone has to work in advertising and the main characters in James Graham’s empathetic and engaging new play, The Whisky Taster, are certainly more appealing than the admen of legend.
Twenty-something whiz kid Barney, together with Croydon motormouth Nicola, is part of a dream team working in a top ad agency. This dynamic duo work well together – and their chatter is punctuated with in-jokes and funny voices. But Barney suffers from synaesthesia – a neurological condition in which words evoke colours and emotions can be experienced as colour. However, his ability to free-associate colours with products is a vital part of their success.
When Barney and Nicola embark on a pitch for a new vodka campaign, they decide to invite a Scottish whisky taster to help them brand an upmarket firewater. After all, isn’t a sensitive palate all that’s needed to create a slogan for a new product? Not so. The arrival of the whisky taster, a tall, bearded fellow with a taste not only for single malts, but also for homespun philosophy calls into question not only Barney and Nicola’s campaign ideas, but their frantic workaholic lifestyle as well.
As a satire on the advertising business, the play offers few new revelations. What makes it thrillingly contemporary is its account of the generational battle between youngsters Barney and Nicola, and their boss Malcolm. The best scene is when Malcolm and Barney clash, with the boss boasting that his baby-boomer generation have accumulated all of the goodies, leaving the new Generation Y with nothing but debt and work and binge-drinking.
As a sharp insight into the political apathy of the younger generation, this is convincing and serves as a powerful reminder of the economics of revolt – or, rather, of its absence. While Barney learns to trust his emotions, Nicola remains focused on success on the corporate treadmill. With the relationship of Barney and Nicola taking centre stage, this is both a tale of ambition at work and a tender account of the confusions wrought by love and desire.
Written with enormous charm, psychological depth and satirical bite, The Whisky Taster is a bitter-sweet story of contemporary London youth which blooms, in director James Grieve and designer Lucy Osborne’s attractive production, from a muted monochrome beginning into a zappy, technicolour lightshow – a thrilling display by lighting designer James Farncombe.
Since Barney can feel emotions as an kaleidoscopic splash of visual fragmentation, there is great scope here for furious overacting, a temptation resisted by ex-History Boy Samuel Barnett, who brings restraint as well as energy to his portrayal of the slightly nerdy youngster. At the start, Barnett, with Kate O’Flynn as the zesty Nicola, both bring a loveable, sparky quality to their playful portrayal of the couple – and then add layers of pain and vulnerability as their relationship develops. As the whisky taster, John Stahl is a disarmingly wise, enigmatic presence, while there is great support from Simon Merrells as the ad-boss Malcolm.
Thought-provoking and emotionally intelligent, with a moving ending that grabs you by the gut, this is a superb piece of new writing given a distinctive, high-quality production at one of London’s best off-West-End venues.
Aleks Sierz
