Here is my first broadway review on this site. If you have read my About me page you will be aware that a New York and broadway visit is a bi annual trip for me. Within hours of touching down in JFK and arriving at my hotel in Time Square I was making my way to The Hayes Theater which was around the corner from my hotel.
The first production of this trip was a play. The other three productions scheduled for the rest of the weekend are all new musicals. The play in question is “Job”. Which opened on Broadway on 15th July 2024 after a lot of off broadway success, The production is on a limited run and as a result closes on 27th October 2024. The show is written by Max Wolf Friedlich and stars Peter Friedman and Sydney Lemmon more on them later. Once again like many plays on the West End and Broadway this was a straight though play with no interval and a total running time of 80 minutes. As mentioned in previous reviews I am a big fan of this format especially for a production as intense as this. However having a 19:00 start time (Well 19:10, if you know you know. Anyone who has seen a Broadway show will be aware). It did mean thatI was back at my hotel bar writing this review well before 21:00.
After receiving my Playbill from the always enthusiastic usher I took my seat in the orchestra Row E Seat 111. A brief note on the playbill itself. When initially handed it I was somewhat surprise by the strange cover sheet as it differed from the norm that I have seen in the past. On closer inspection I discovered that Playbill are celebrating their 140 year anniversary and as a result had around four or five “alternative” covers. Mine was of a 70s vibe. I was pleased to eventually realise that the current/ modern playbill cover was located on the inside cover. Both version for the playbil cover can be seen below:
After booking the ticket a matter of hours before, during the very drawn out taxi ride from JFK to Manhattan I was luckily to obtain a single seat ticket in a very good location. This seat only added to the authentic feeling of the production. As soon as the house lights went down you are transported to be a fly on the wall to a therapist session/meeting. With a very dramatic opening scene in which the therapist is being held at gun point by the patient. I am concuios that I don’t want to provide any major spoilers for this show. Apart from the fact there is a twist at the end however I will refrain from providing the details of said twist. Just in case you are lucky enough to see this or any future version of this production.
The show running time of 80 minutes makes much more sense when you release the context of the show and also lends to the authenticity of making you feel you really are observing a real therapy session. This authenticity is also continued by the fact the staging (shown above) does not change throughout the whole production. There is no set changes what so ever. At most the chairs are moved from their original spots. Again showing what i imagine a happens in a real theory session. The set design as you can see from above is simple however very effective, I especially liked the floating ceiling mould to depict the top of the room and almost frame the whole stage.
Throughout the 80 minutes we are drip fed information about not only the patient Jane but the therapist Loyd. By the end we discover that Jane works for a big tech company and is the “first line of defence” for online filtering. The audience are given a small insight into the way the internet and social media is filtered mainly by bots. But when the algorithm is unable to come to a conclusion a human has to watch and review the content to make a final call. We learn through quite graphic description the kind of things that Jane not only has been exposed to but is expected to experience on a daily basis to produce the first line of defence. She sees it so the general public don’t. We also learn that Jane has more recently taken on confronting some of the contents creators in a vigilante esc campaigns. As the audience is slowly feed Jane’s background and experience we expectedly assume this is why she is in this therapy session because of her JOB. The big tech company who is imposing a therapist sign off for her return to office after she suffered a viral breakdown. We learn a little but crucially enough about Loyd, he is divorced with two young children a young boy and a young daughter who committed sucide at a young age. We later discover why this could have occurred.
Throughout the session/production Jane raises and mentions lots of challenges and issues that face not only her generation (Millennial) but anyone and everyone who is impacted and connected via the internet. This challenges and issues include the expectation that social media put on individuals along with racism and politics views of the class system of not only the country (US) but the world as a whole, as well as abortion. The ability to put this challenges across and develop such an intense building production all within less than 80 minutes is credit to the writer Max Wolf Friedlich. The show especially during the first half has some very well written dark humour which slowly gets turned on its head to become a very dark and intense final ten to fifteen minutes of the show. The audience go from laughs to audible gasps of realisation within the final few scenes of the show. Again I do not want to provide any spoilers but I really was on the edge of my seat for the last ten minutes. Which brings me nicely onto the ending.
The ending is left up to the audience interpretation and I can not give opinion of which way it would go without spoiling it. In one hand I like the opening ended/ open to interpretation ending as it means each audience member potentially has a different conclusion to one another. However on the other hand not having a black and white clear conclusion does make me feel like we are robed of a truly dramatic finish. Maybe the unknown is more impactful, it defenelty made me think on my short walk back to by hotel.
There is one aspect of the production I have to touch on and this is the lighting. Even though the set does not change the lighting for the most part is the same however it along with sound effects are brilliantly used to symbolise Jane’s panics attacks which occur multiple times throughout the session. The use of total blackouts outs and square light blocks on the back stage wall with load sound thuds. Transform you from the fly on the wall of the theorist office to inside Jane’s mind and the pure panic and confusion that is happening in her head during the session. The stark contrast between the office lighting and the dark thoughts in Jane’s head are really effective with the first transisation being a true jump scare for the audience.
Before I conclude the review I have to touch on and mention the two main and only members of the cast. The fact that it is only two actors on stage together from start to finish and able to create such a rollercoaster of emotions without fancy set changes or other cast members is a credit in itself. First Loyd is portrayed by Peter Friedman of Succession fame as well as lots of other stage and screen productions. He has the ability to instantly convince the audience he is a theorist but maybe with a difference. I had no doubt in the way he portrayed himself throughout the encounter with Jane that this was a theorist from his mannerisms to the amazing script. It all added to the authenticity of the production. This played perfectly opposite Sydney Lemmon who was playing the role of Jane. We easily get drawn into the trauma that Jane has and really feel compassion for her even though the opening scene is her holding her therapist at gun point. The ability of Sydney who no surprise orginaited this role to be able to take the audience on this rollercoaster thoughout the script is a credit to her.
Overall I give this production 4 out of 5 stars. You become a fly on the wall of the most dramatic therapist session you will ever experience. From laughs to audible gasps of realisation. A extremely well written 80 minute play that brings you on a roller coaster where you get to choose the conclusion.
You can check out “Job” on their website which includes all their socials
A SPURDLE reviews 