Taking aim at the suits

Business rules the world, but business people are rarely considered a fit subject for drama. When they do get to the stage, it is often as villains: the overbearing boss or the egregious entrepreneur.

So it is one of the virtues of Swiss writer Urs Widmer's satire that it treats its middle-aged middle managers kindly, even as it snaps at their jargon-led world. What is less impressive is how little a promising premise is developed.

On a sleek, carpet-tiled stage, five awkward executives gather to retrain. They've been awarded "outplacement" - well, sacked - by megafirms whose parting gift was a stint at this upmarket Job Club.

Business is war, counsels team leader Mary Keegan - they must unleash their inner Churchills. But only after they overcome the trauma of rejection. How could British Airways oust Timothy Morand after all he did for catering? How could Patrick Driver get the chop from a man he was "almost friends with"? They need help to break their fall.

It is presented with style. The strong cast are vulnerable but slick in their Jeff Banks suits.

David Gilchrist's grinding soundtrack adds to the crisp alienation of Jo Joelson's strip-lit design. But there's less going on here than meets the eye. Widmer's suggestion that business is big, brutal and bogus won't hold any front pages. And chanting buzzwords - "downsizing ... efficiency profile ... outsourcing ..." - is a sledgehammer tactic for getting it into our nuts that commerce can crush the soul.

Top Dogs was a smash in Germany in the mid-Nineties. Perhaps it bites deeper where the businessman is a more revered figure. Here, director Patricia Benecke summons up an intriguingly icy mood, but the quirky stagecraft serves some disappointingly glib content. Widmer's play feels like a good comedy sketch that has upsized beyond its means.

Top Dogs