IF YOU’RE LOOKING FOR A GREAT JOB,
HEAD TO THE HAYES THEATRE
Two plays on therapy sessions presented at the same time a few blocks apart certainly show a phycological trend among young New York playwrights. At Pershing Square Signature Center, Dominéca Feraud’s Something Spectacular deals gently and comically with significant loss while Max Wolf Friedlich‘s intriguing thriller Job — which opened tonight at the charming Hayes Theatre — is all about technology and the evil humans can do by using it the wrong way. And there is another coincidence: both actors in Job, Sydney Lemmon and Peter Friedman, were in the cast of Succession along with Jeremy Strong (An Enemy of the People) and Juliana Canfield (Stereophonic); four actors from the same television series in three different Broadway plays in four months.
Peter Friedman (Loyd) and Sydney Lemmon (Jane)
Job’s plot is simple yet full of twists: Sydney Lemmon is Jane, a young professional who works as content moderator for an unnamed tech giant in the Bay area that sounds a lot like Google. She was put on administrative leave because she had a nervous breakdown in the office and a merciless video of her losing it spread all over the internet, making her a meme. She needs a therapist to assess her state of mind before she can go back to work so she goes to see Loyd, played by Peter Friedman, a psychologist who specializes in work crisis. The problem is that she pulls out a gun as soon as she enters his office, shaking, seemingly on the edge of another breakdown.
Peter Friedman and Sydney Lemmon
Jane is enraged, eyes brimming with desperation; her sharp dialogue reveals an intelligent, ambitious person and her words are the legitimate cry of late Millennials and Zoomers. She is furious at sexism, therapy, the climate crisis, capitalism causing poverty, becoming a meme, and at human brutality shown every second of the day on social media. She is a bundle of quivering nerves and Lemmon gives us a powerful, poignant portrayal. Terrified Loyd tries to calm Jane down by analyzing her fears, although it’s an impossible situation because she has a gun. Friedman is impeccable as the ideal ex-hippie, an absolutely credible self-aware Boomer who doesn’t like technology, hates corporations, and — to prove he has a kind soul — keeps plants and African wooden sculptures in his office (realistic set by Scott Penner). With seeming ease, Friedman dexterously switches from petrified to charismatic, from fatherly to pedant, even manipulative, and keeps the quick back-and-forth with Lemmon alive and compelling.
Peter Friedman and Sydney Lemmon
Mextly Couzin‘s abrupt blackouts and flashes and Cody Spencer‘s eerie sound effects reveal Jane’s over-stimulated state of mind in bits and pieces. An unexpected finale, so clever I wished it was longer, puts the last piece of the puzzle in place, and that is all I can say or the carefully crafted plot will be spoiled. The cloudy quick ending could be fixed but it does not take away from the overall play. Directed by Michael Herwitz, this tense two-character psychological thriller is thought-provoking and absolutely engaging, a must see for Boomers, Millennials, and Gen Z.
Peter Friedman
photos by Emilio Madrid
Sydney Lemmon
Job
Hayes Theater, 240 W 44th St
ends on September 29, 2024 EXTENDED to October 27, 2024
for tickets, visit JOB; digital lottery and rush info here
