The Third Condiment

Judging by this new work from brothers Ben and Charlie Brafman, I’m not the only one having serious doubts over green ethics and fair-trade capitalism. This riotously funny farce charts the invention and subsequent rise to prominence of the ‘Third Condiment’, and uses the characters’ competing motivations to explore bourgeois concerns about third-world exploitation and ethical capitalism.

The leading trio demonstrate some real chemistry as they strive for common ground over how best to utilise their yam-tastic discovery. The tensions between them mirror the real issues under the Brafmans’ microscope: pocket-lining materialism versus head-in-the-clouds social conscience. An excellently diverse array of characters are played with no shortage of wit, armed with a sharp script that crams in the punchlines and a strong supporting cast. Particularly impressive is Rubric Hemingway, a charismatic conflation of Alan Sugar and Lord Flashheart, played with riotous aplomb by Charlie Eccleshare. He and snappy Welsh lead Dave have the lions’ share of the best lines, with the latter inciting rapturous laughter on more than a few occasions. As Hemingway’s daughters Kate and Hattie thicken the plot, some fine comedic set-pieces keep the audience alert and attentive.

The topicality of the plot and the host of pop-culture references—the blackened segues between each scene are accompanied by some seriously choice cheese-pop touchstones—ensure that the performance feels both relevant and funny, without ever lapsing into evangelism; a sweet-savoury fable on our fair-trade affectations.