The Whisky Taster

Published Wednesday 27 January 2010 at 12:45 by Aleks Sierz

Synaesthesia is a tricky condition - it basically means that words evoke colours and that emotions can be experienced as colour. In James Graham’s engaging and emotionally satisfying new play, twenty-somethings Barney and Nicola work as a team in a top advertising agency. But although he suffers from synaesthesia, he can use the condition to help in creating marketing campaigns that resonate with the general public.

Samuel Barnett (Barney) and Kate O'Flynn (Nicola) in The Whisky Taster at the Bush Theatre Photo: Tristram Kenton

In theory anyway. But when this duo embark on a pitch for a new vodka campaign, they decide to bring in a Scottish whisky taster for extra help. After all, one alcoholic drink is much the same as another. When he arrives, however, he turns out to be a decidedly odd fellow, whose contribution to both the advertising campaign and to Barney’s feelings for Nicola is unexpected, and life-changing.

Written with enormous charm, psychological depth and satirical bite, The Whisky Taster is a bitter-sweet story of contemporary London workaholic youth, which blossoms, in director James Grieve and designer Lucy Osborne’s beautiful production, from a muted monochrome into a technicolour lightshow, greatly aided by James Farncombe’s lighting design.

Samuel Barnett and Kate O’Flynn bring zest and energy to their initially playful portrayal of Barney and Nicola, and then add layers of pain and vulnerability as their relationship develops. As the whisky taster, John Stahl is a noble, enigmatic guru-like presence, and there is great support from Simon Merrells as their boss Malcolm and Chris Larkin as Chris the vodka company client. Thought-provoking, observant and emotionally intelligent, this is a superb piece of new writing.