Job
When you enter the Gershwin Theater to watch “Wicked,” it’s immediately absorbing, using every physical aspect of the space to transport the audience to the Emerald City. Some spaces are built for their shows, and some are simply perfect without manipulation. The latter is the case for the Soho Playhouse, currently hosting the extended run of “Job.” The 178-seat theatre is claustrophobic, the rows of chairs trapping you in close contact with fellow patrons and the stage feeling viscerally close, even from the second to last row. There is no better location for this psychological thriller, a perfect environment for eighty minutes of unnerving commentary on the digital age.
Hype was dripping off of this production, from the Succession stars on stage to the celebrity attendees promoting it. I was fortunate to reserve tickets after it was extended from the popularity, getting to rub shoulders with Daisy Edgar Jones and Taran Egerton at my performance. The buzz was clearly buzzing, but much of the content is still kept to a whisper. It’s promoted as being a show about, “that Tech company (you know the one),” but I knew little else going in. It’s completely understandable why people are intentionally tight lipped on the content; it must be seen to be believed.
Before the house lights go down, the expectations are subverted. We see a classic therapy office setup with two chairs directly across from each other, but the show refuses to begin simply sitting and talking. The basic plot conflict is that the therapist(Peter Friedman) must sign off that the client(Sydney Lemmon) is mentally sound to return to her job. The story unfolds through commentary and iterations on the internet landscape, often comical but never preaching. There’s dynamics of age, power, and “wokeness” that are all examined through a very current lens, something that seems almost impossible to do with a culture that changes by the second. Some of the theatrical elements to capture the mindset of the chronically online patient were less successful than others, but the final twists were jaw dropping and severely rewarding. I will be left thinking about this show every time I open a certain browser.
https://www.sohoplayhouse.com/upcoming-events/job
