By Staurt Miller…
Mike Bartlett’s play shows two colleague gleefully goring the office’s weak link.
“Bull” was written by Mike Bartlett in England more than a decade ago. Yet this brief play about the human capacity for cruel and brutish behavior seems very much of a moment in America where the president (and his MAGA cult) delights in his own viciousness and bullying. (The show even namechecks “The Apprentice.”)
This office drama feels timely and will hold you in its grip for much of its running time but Bartlett, who seems to aspire to Neil LaBute or early Harold Pinter, falls short in the end. Ultimately, “Bull” does little more than show us how bad and desperate people are capable of horrible behavior.
The play, well directed by Max Hunter on a small spare set, takes place in an office. Three co-workers gather to await their boss, who is going to “cull” one of them as part of a corporate restructuring aimed at boosting the bottom line.
Miles G. Jackson is Thomas, a fidgety, neurotic wreck in a cheap suit. Kerstin Anderson is Isobel, an ice queen who has suffered greatly in a male-dominated world and gleefully targets Thomas for her revenge. Alexander Pobutsky is Tony, handsome and privileged, gliding easily toward success, who teams up with Isobel, though he seems to delight in tormenting Thomas simply because he can.
Isobel mocks Thomas’ clothes and claims he has something in his hair, unsettling him from the start. Then Tony arrives, talks about Thomas without acknowledging him then responds to each of his comments with a disengaged, “What?” as if he could not be bothered to listen. Tony also fails to tell Thomas that the boss, Mr. Carter has been delayed and, more notably, that they were supposed to prepare printed material about their sales numbers for the meeting.
The early scenes when Isobel and Tony pick at Thomas– with little digs, personal questions and and reminders about how Thomas (who doesn’t drink and doesn’t fit in socially) is an outsider in the entire office– are tense and effective. My friend said he noticed audience members averting their gaze as the tension and nastiness mounted, which is certainly part of the goal.
But Thomas goes from tightly wound to irate and hateful– with a dose of misogyny– almost instantly, making him a less than sympathetic victim. Jackson’s body language, brimming with nervous energy, gets under his co-workers’ skin and he may annoy audiences too. This is a flaw in the play: Thomas makes George McFly at his worst look cool and competent; he’s a natural target for bullies.
Bartlett wants us to examine why some people instinctively devour the weak but it leaves the play dramatically inert. Thomas is clearly going to be the one fired and he’s never going to be able to stand up for himself (even George McFly finally punches Biff). So we’re just left sitting there feeling ashamed of man’s inhumanity to man.
Had Bartlett written a more even-handed play the audience might have identified more with Thomas and when Isobel and Tony team up and ratchet up their antics, ridiculing Thomas’ family and his body, forcing him to touch Tony’s gorgeous torso after he strips off his shirt, we would feel Thomas’ anguish. That would have made his slide toward hysteria when Mr. Carter (Paco Tolson) finally arrives and, unsurprisingly, quickly sides with Isobel and Tony, much more affecting.
Compounding the problem Jackson is too loud from the start, leaving him nowhere to escalate as things get worse and worse; contrasting that overacting with Anderson and Pobustky who are natural in their roles at the top of the food chain, leaves us even less inclined to root for Thomas. Still, even if we don’t like Thomas, people do often root for the underdog and here Bartlett so thoroughly quashes any hope of revenge or redemption that the end feels anticlimactic. After Thomas gets canned by Carter, there’s a final scene in which Isobel goads him until he finally snaps, but it carries little weight since there’s no chance his sound and fury will amount to anything.
The confines of Brooklyn’s JACK Theater, with about fifty seats in just two rows flanking the stage on two sides, ups the uncomfortability factor, which serves the play well, but can’t hide those flaws. The press notes say the intimacy highlights each “shift in power” but the power doesn’t change. It remains with those in power. Same as it ever was.
“Bull” runs less than an hour at JACK Theater, 20 Putnam Street in Brooklyn through October 4th.
Photos by Marc J. Franklin
