The white leather sofas are a dead giveaway. They are the power-tripping boss's furnishings of choice. They say "I've made it" and their purpose is to unsettle anyone who sits on them. The stripped down set of Swimming With Sharks is adorned with two of them.
So even if you haven't seen the darkly comic Kevin Spacey film version, you're not surprised when the (office) politics of power turn out to be this play's crucial dynamic. Through his charismatic deployment of bullying, Christian Slater's Buddy Ackerman keeps Matt Smith's idealistic young hopeful Guy - "I like that name: anonymous" - firmly in his place. Which is not too far from the switchboard or coffee machine.
It's a scenario we all recognise: the all-powerful boss whose only priority is to further his own professional status, and the underling who strives to meet his demands, no matter that they are akin to human rights abuse.
A most recent parallel is TV's Ugly Betty and last year's film hit, The Devil Wears Prada, in which a terrifying Meryl Streep sweeps into work with the words: "Why is my coffee not here, has she died?" Similarly, Ackerman shouts at cowering Guy: "Pick up the phone. Don't you have hands?" - a brutal reminder of what he's for. But Ackerman is unapologetic. "I'm not trying to be cruel. Just to help." The unsettling thing is, there's more than a grain of truth in that.
As there is in the exchange that follows Guy's feeble but disturbing act of revenge (by papercuts and coffee burns) when his punishing work regimen finally causes him to flip. "I didn't spend one year ..." he begins, poised to launch into a whinge about his demeaning apprenticeship. "I spent 10!" yells Ackerman, cutting him off. A terse reminder of the pampered interns with Oxbridge degrees who've refused to do my photocopying.
That is the point in the play where the pendulum swings - and my sympathy settled with Buddy. He's a monster. But he knows what it takes to get things done. Ultimately, it's a three-star play, but as a masterclass in bullying Swimming With Sharks gets top marks.
Until 19 January. Information: 0870 040 0046.
Swimming With Sharks
Vaudeville Theatre
Strand, WC2R 0NH
