A Rattling JOB On Broadway — Review

Broadway

Sydney Lemmon and Peter Friedman | Photo: Emilio Madrid

By
Nolan Boggess
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July 30, 2024 9:30 PM
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If there is one universal truth, bringing a gun to a therapy session is a bad idea. It is especially a bad idea if that therapy session is a psych evaluation. And, for the record, It’s a very very bad idea to point said gun at a therapist who is conducting said psych evaluation.

Bad ideas aside, it’s a great start to Job, a thrilling, pressure-cooker new Broadway play by Max Wolf Friedlich. This opening image imbued something claustrophobic within me. Although I didn’t hear the ushers locking up the Helen Hayes, I could feel an ancient door slamming shut, leaving behind dust that tells you ‘you’re never getting outta here.’ I didn’t mind. 

Jane (Sydney Lemmon) is pointing the gun at Loyd (Peter Friedman), an assigned therapist deciding whether or not Jane is fit to return to work. Jane has taken a forced leave of absence after having a filmed breakdown at her unnamed, mega-tech corporation in Silicon Valley. “I had achieved the new American dream – I had gone viral,” she says to Loyd. Jane, set on returning to work, at all costs shows Loyd the video. Jane’s blood-curdling screams tell us something at her job is very amiss.

Job, simply put, is a play about generational differences and technology. Loyd, a hippie-type older white guy, has lived in the Bay area his whole life and resents his new mega-tech neighbors. He makes artisanal jewelry, hates the word gaslighting, and thinks phones are to blame for everything. Jane, a young white woman from the midwest, moved to Silicon Valley and found purpose in her tech-job. She hates her friends, loves her phone, and is sick of old men like Loyd. 

Friedlich knows that starting a two-hander play starting with a gun in between the characters is treacherous territory. He writes like he’s on a tightrope, sustaining the nimble, 80-min play with the same claustrophobia, tension, and dark humor as the first image. Michael Herwitz’s superb direction, supported by a startling lighting and sound design (Mextly Couzin and Cody Spencer, respectively) keeps the electric combat  between the two foes alive. 

Take for example, when Jane and Loyd engage in the classic debate of cell phone good or cell phone bad. Jane claims old hippies who are afraid of technology, like Loyd, are the problem. “They tell young women – the ones who’re best at phones –they tell us we’re stupid because they’re afraid of us – afraid of our potential, our sexuality, everything,” she says. 

When Loyd suggests Jane is complicit in the gentrification of the bay, she reminds him it was the hippies who wrote the strict housing laws prohibiting the construction of low-income housing. “Perhaps we’ve traded psychedelics for a slow drip of dopamine that comes from these devices in our pockets.” says Loyd. “Well like... that’s not that original of a thought,” replies Jane. “Well it has that in common with most thoughts” he snaps back. 

Lemmon’s portrayal of Jane is thrilling. She rapidly switches between aloof and disinterested to lucid and passionate. As she sinks deeper into the session, she holes away in Loyd’s office (Scenic Design by Scott Penner) - pushing an armchair against the wall, clearing off a side table to sit, and changing her angle of attack every few minutes. In contrast, Friedman is loose and naturalistic. Against all odds, he is up for the challenge, remaining open to whatever is thrown his way. It’s not just old vs. young. It’s life vs. death. 

Whether or not the audience will be up to the challenge is a larger question. While the tension remains when the gun goes away, the show slowly oozes out information like an IV drip. At times, the show’s desire to remain obtuse gets in its own way. But, unlike its other less-successful, black-mirroresque peers, I promise Job’s final rattling, supreme reveal is worth it. 

Job is now in performance at the Hayes Theatre on West 44th Street in New York City.

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Nolan Boggess

Nolan Boggess is a director and writer living in Brooklyn. Originally from Iowa, Nolan’s theatre obsession began with the VHS of Cats and one too many productions of The Music Man. A graduate of Grinnell College, Nolan currently works iconically in management on Broadway. He is so thrilled to be apart of the Theatrely team - say hi to him on social media!

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