11 – 12 February

With seating in the round and a lit red line defining a square acting area not unlike a boxing ring, the Tobacco Factory’s setting for Mike Bartlett’s hour-long miniature on workplace bullying radiated a loaded, claustrophobic atmosphere.

Team leader Tony (Rilwan Abiola Owokoniran), steely, ambitious Isobel (Rebecca Blackstone) and the diffident Thomas (Rob Ostlere) are three office colleagues expecting a visit from their boss Carter (Tim Frances). There has been talk of slimming down the workforce, somebody having to go for the survival of the firm.

From the off, a relentless stream of casual abuse is poured at the slightly shambolic Thomas. Cocksure Tony and stone-hearted Isobel’s personal comments about Thomas’s personal hygiene and his dress sense all hit the mark like banderillas being thrust into a bull’s neck. Ostlere’s anguished body language reflects the pressure and isolation Thomas is experiencing from malevolent colluding colleagues who drip-feed him with cruel taunts.

Further humiliations will be heaped upon Thomas before Carter’s eventual arrival, which reveal as much about the fear driving Tony and Isobel as it does about Thomas’s crushed spirit. Bartlett’s clever writing seems to have one direction of travel, but always tangentially paints the spiritual loss on the part of the bullies. Owokoniran and Blackstone simply ooze smirking sarcasm as they taunt their doomed teammate.

Carter’s arrival prompts a chimera of doubt. Will he side with the two alpha employees, or could there be another twist to the tale? Francis portrays a hard-headed manager dispensing critical comments to all in his own perfect powerplay. But like the inevitable outcome of a bullfight, Carter simply spoons more hurt on the obvious victim – malice-laced capitalism will have its day.

Thomas’s desperation towards the end has all the hallmarks of a cornered animal lashing out. And the play’s abrupt end offers no sense of sanctuary. Do we feel guilty for watching someone else’s pain? Do we see or recognise ourselves in any of this?

Inspired by what he witnessed at a bullfight in Mexico, playwright Bartlett hasn’t flinched from portraying a darker side of humanity, one which thrills to diminish, to other, to destroy known or perceived adversaries in order to win personal reprieve, a sense of ‘victory’ perhaps. Bull was awarded Best New Play at the National Theatre Awards in 2013.

Director Sally Woodcock founded the Mesh Theatre Company in 2015 in order to produce ‘bold plays that tackle the political through the personal’. Mike Bartlett’s brutal depiction of office politics with its gloves off fits well into this remit.

★★★★☆  Simon Bishop, 12 February 2025