Susan Granger’s review of “Job” (SoHo Playhouse – Off-Broadway)
Max Wolf Friedlich’s new play “Job” can be terrifying. Running a terse 80 minutes, it starts and ends with a gun – and, as handgun violence proliferates, we all become edgy when a firearm is center-stage.
Set in January, 2020, the drama revolves around stressed-out Jane (Sydney Lemmon), who works at a huge social media company in Northern California. When she has a shrieking breakdown at work, a video of her scary outburst goes viral.
In order to return to work, Jane must attend a mandated, psychological evaluation session with a therapist. Which brings her to the office of Dr. Loyd (Peter Friedman) where her combative attitude threatens to derail any semblance of crisis management, particularly since she’s carrying a gun
Jane is obviously overwhelmed and a bit emotionally lost. But she’s articulate and, perhaps, hyper-verbal about the significance of her role at the company. So is the weapon she’s carrying a threat or her version of a security blanket?
Calm and essentially kind, Loyd voices various observations about ethics, social justice and how the omni-present Internet has changed everyone, particularly the insistence that technology is beneficial and benevolent – even when it isn’t.
Like: I am my job and my job is me. This is my significance in the world.
Jane believes that she’s important – and that the work she does is valuable. Perhaps that’s because she’s a Millennial/Gen-Z and, being older, Loyd is a Boomer. He has the money and power, while she just wants to get back on the phone.
Since this play is a two-hander and there’s lots of ambiguity, the audience is left to ponder: Is this a parable or just the playwright’s observation on the generational divide?
Adroitly directed by Michael Herwitz, the production clearly benefits from Jessie Char and Maxwell Neely-Cohen’s sound design.
As more and more performances sell out, the run of “Job” at SoHo Playhouse has now been extended thru October 29th. For tickets and more information, go to sohoplayhouse. com