Paulanne Simmons
"Job"
"Job," Max Wolf Friedlich‘s new drama, which has transferred to the Helen Hayes Theater on Broadway, from the Connolly Theatre, where it moved after its Off-Broadway premiere at the SoHo Playhouse, begins with the distraught Jane (Sydney Lemmon) aiming a gun at Loyd (Peter Friedman), her therapist. Jane has recently been fired from her job with a Bay Area tech company after a hysterical outburst that went viral, and the company wants Loyd to decide whether she is fit to return to her old job. One can easily see why Jane might resent her therapist under such conditions. And it takes Loyd quite a while to get Jane to put the gun back into her pocketbook. That a therapist would continue the session with such an ever-present threat seems unlikely. But Friedlich needs him to do so because the entire play unfolds as a heated dialogue between patient and therapist. Unfortunately, most of their discussion has little to do with Jane’s job, which gives the play its title. Jane talks about her boyfriend, her abortion, her parents, the media and the generational divide that separates her from Loyd. There are also a good number of references to the issues that plague our society these days, from our addiction to our cell phones to our disregard for those in need. But as good students of Chekov, we are waiting to see what will happen to that gun. At last we find out the exact nature of Jane’s work. It was her job to weed out objectional material from the internet, i.e. violent, racist and lewd content. Certainly, this is enough to make anyone lose her mind. Possibly enough to incite the hysterical accusations she levels against Loyd. But is there any truth to those accusations? Jane’s research seems to have been scrupulous. And Loyd’s reaction is ambiguous. Here Friedlich seems to be taking a page from John Patrick Shanley’s far superior Doubt. Under Michael Herwitz’s direction, Lemmon and Friedman deliver flawless performances. Neither is particularly likeable. But they are both totally believable. However, they cannot give focus to a play that insists on rambling across the 21st century. The drama is punctuated by flashing lights and bursts of loud noises that seem to have no other purpose than to wake up those who might be dozing. Perhaps they represent states of mind, something better achieved by the actors. PTSD is very real. So is the trash that seems to be endemic on the internet. These are subjects that should be explored. There is a good play hiding somewhere in Friedlich‘s work. Maybe finding it is the real job the title is referring to. |
| recordings | coupons | publications | classified |