BULL by Mike Bartlett, first performed in 2013

Director Ben Nash and designer Hazel McIntosh take the premise of the play being performed within a boxing context quite literally as action is centred within an actual boxing ring, complete with ropes, stools in the four corners and a bell to mark the various rounds of action.

It is a simplistic device, but effective as a way for the three principal protagonists to bob around each other, going under and over the ropes as they ratchet up the tension. The three employees are gathering to meet their boss who has indicated that one of them is going to lose their job.

It’s a sort of ‘Apprentice’ piece, with rivals ducking and weaving, while attempting to land the knockout blow. It is a nasty piece of brutal theatre as Thomas (Tom Atkinson) Isobel (Joséphine-Fransilja Brookman) and team leader Tony (Tom Mordell) engage in an increasingly vicious and violent verbal duel.

Bull summons up an image of a bullfight as well as bullying and intimidation and the presence of a strong female character, played inch perfectly by Brookman, provides a different perspective from the patriarchy often presented in workplace dramas. This is Glengarry Glen Ross for modern Britain. Brookman’s Isobel is a sassy, ultra-confident woman, highly aware of her physicality, able to street fight and knowing exactly what she needs to succeed. She can lie and cheat and undermine with the best (and worst) of them, and all whilst playing with her hair. Mordell’s Tony is a privileged, preening, over-cocky, conniving bully. But don’t let that deflect you; he is just as dangerous as Isobel.

Poor old Thomas arrives in the ring already looking worried and overly concerned about his appearance. Tom Atkinson’s excellent portrayal shows a man just about able to contain his inner torment, while fronting up to his external tormentors. His efforts to retain his privacy because he knows it will be examined for any sign of weakness, give moments of real poignancy.

Mordell, although capturing the cynical, gloating goading monster of a team leader is at times mechanical in his movements. It feels that some of the acting is done by numbers and when it is, doesn’t quite convince.

When they are joined by the boss, Carter (Patrick McAndrew), the viciousness goes up a gear and the gloves come off. Physical blocking reveals who is not going to be kept on.

The stylistic pugilism works well and the fight scenes are nicely handled, but the whole piece suffered from indistinct lighting changes. This was apparent when the audience were left wondering whether the piece had ended, after a final confusing lighting change. Given the intricacy of the very authentic looking ring, it would have been dramatically satisfying to have had the characters literally up against the ropes.

An entertaining fifty five minutes with standout performances, especially from Atkinson and Brookman

★★★☆☆

HOW MY LIGHT IS SPENT  by Alan Harris won the 2015 Judges award in the Bruntwood Prize for Playwrighting.

Directed by Tobias Millard and designed by Olivia Jamieson, How My Light Was Spent provided superb entertainment from start to finish.

Bill Caple’s Jimmy has recently lost his job and is addicted to ringing Kitty (Anna-Sophia Tutton) on premium call lines at the same time every week. She is a phone sex worker making ends meet by satisfying men who haven’t got the ability to get their ends to meet.

The set demonstrates what you can do when theatrical creativity is applied to the full. Basically comprised of just two boxes, a couple of chairs and bare props hanging on hooks on the wall, the scenes transform effortlessly in a blink of an eye. Both Tutton and Caple bring such warmth and ease to the various additional characters, including Jimmy’s Mum Rita, estranged daughter Mallory and Kitty’s landlord Steveo, that the fast pace is maintained from start to finish.

The script crackles with South Walian humour and observations including superb comic pieces within Newport Nuts, the doughnut shop where Jimmy worked, and at the park swings where we meet sneering seventeen year old Mallory.

This two hander is up there with Jim Cartwright’s To for inventiveness, belly laughs and pathos.

Special mention should be given to lighting designer Nancy Strahan for simple, effective changes which enhanced the mood and character transitions.

The warmth, timing and chemistry between Tutton and Caple is captured magnificently and even when the play becomes alarmingly surreal, as Jimmy begins to quite literally disappear, the empathy between the two is if anything, magnified.

Every ounce of humour was fully extracted, every change of character perfectly defined and every shift in mood superbly handled.

This was fabulously paced, completely uplifting theatre which fully deserved the standing ovation it received from the audience at the end, and for me personally was simply the best piece of theatre I have seen since the pandemic.

If Bristol Old Vic Theatre School continues to produce such excellent performers, directors and designers as these we are in for a treat.

★★★★★  Bryan Mason 13th May