It’s no spoiler to say “JOB”, Max Wolf Friedlich’s electrifying synapse of play, contains a extremely burdened younger lady pointing a gun at a therapist in his workplace. That’s how the play begins.
It’s an odd, if not downright delusional, approach for Jane (Sydney Lemmon) to get the company-mandated, psychological well being sign-off from Loyd (Peter Friedman) that woud permit her to return to her job after an epic psychological collapse at work. The video of her breakdown went viral, turning her meltdown right into a meme.
But it surely’s not remedy Jane is looking for. Removed from it. Over the following 80 minutes, this taut switch from Off Broadway reveals itself to be a terrifying journey to the darkish facet of the web.
As soon as the gun is again in her satchel, one other sort of stand-off begins. Jane, a Gen Z techie, is set to return to her “content material moderation” place at work, wherein she strikes offensive materials off-platform at a Bay Space tech large.
For many of its period, the play seems to be a tense tug-of-war between a disturbed worker and a trapped therapist who is unquestionably not going to log off to her calls for, however who instinctively feels the necessity to assist a troubled and conflicted soul who insists, “This isn’t who I’m.”
Loyd, who prides himself in taking over difficult instances, cautiously tries to probe the basis of Jane’s anguish and panic assaults as he parses her previous. He steadily learns about her household and private historical past, her empowerment points at work, and her obsession with and entry to the violence that she witnesses on the planet — and within the cyber cosmos.
Jane counters Loyd’s psychological counseling with a cynical worldview and generational indictments. But regardless of every part, she additionally longs for a secure place to only lie down, ideally “within the ER the place there aren’t any decisions in any respect.”
Her rage at first appears to be in opposition to “the Boomers,” which Loyd represents and which she disdains. However her anger is extra particular than basic indictments. She has a job to do — and right here, too, that’s as significant as it’s overwhelming.
Friedman summons the identical cool and ambiguous professionalism he displayed in his position of company exec Frank Vernon in HBO’s “Succession.” In a terrific efficiency, the actor makes Loyd’s sensitivity and calming persona a pure product of his long-ago, Berkeley hippie days. However he’s additionally conscious of the excessive stakes at play. “Please understand what is occurring right here,” he reminds Jane when she calls for her medical cross. “You might be holding me hostage.”
Lemmon is riveting, and brings an clever fierceness to her character. Typically she’s manic and skittish; at others, she’s immobilized and goes to a different aircraft of actuality, solely introduced again by obligation to her all-important job — one wherein she feels the facility to “extract the darkness” from the net “and take it with me.”
Although it’s a mighty and purposeful mission ( “I’ve work to do. It’s not a selection”), on this explicit state of affairs it’s one and not using a clear path ahead.
The play’s title is in all caps, presumably due to the significance of Jane’s duties on the firm and the Biblical-sized sacrifices she endures. (“It’s a privilege to endure,” she says). Too usually, although, the play feels overloaded with concepts, themes and ethical conundrums scattered in random bursts and bytes. There are moments “JOB” comes near going off the grid.
However then the play steers into a brand new and surprising path, upending the psychological thriller narrative as each characters are all of a sudden seen in vastly completely different lights. Because the web’s depths are additional revealed, it turns into a horror story.
Cody Spencer’s unnerving sound design, Mextly Cousin’s seizures of lights and set designer Scott Penner’s island of an workplace, amid towers of screens, all add subliminally and on to the manufacturing’s stress, finely calibrated by director Michael Herwitz.
This single-set, two-actor exploration of the brand new, stunning actuality of “the web, the place we dwell” is more likely to energy up on many extra phases to return. However these anticipating a suspenseful workplace showdown or a techno-debate ought to buckle their seatbelts and brace themselves for a journey into cyber hell.