OBSERVER: Job
A dramatic immediacy opens Max Wolf Friedlich’s Job at Red Stitch Theatre.
Short, sharp vignettes reveal Jane (Jessica Clarke) pointing a gun at Loyd (Darren Gilshenan), Loyd berating an imaginary individual, and a dynamic that the audience must interpret.
We discover Jane is seeing Loyd in his professional capacity as a therapist who will determine if she can return to work after a breakdown. Ostensibly, both individuals hold each other to ransom.
This is the backdrop of Friedlich’s exploration of numerous contemporary themes, not the least of which is violence in society.
Jane feels the weight and responsibility of her role in the digital world scrubbing inappropriate content from the internet but, simultaneously, can’t cope with the pressure. Loyd is compromised between providing professional advice and saving himself by telling Jane what she wants to hear. The dilemma of the new age is upon us all.
The setting (Jacob Battista) is a typical consultant’s room with desk, chairs and couch but a buzz from the lights skirting the set (David Parker) denotes the fractured state of Jane’s mind.
The work builds in intensity over 75 minutes. Clarke and Gilshenan find the initial comedy in the contradictions facing their characters which turns to fear and trepidation as the accusations fly and each tries to establish control of both the session and their wider lives.
Director Nadia Tass has seen that the ambivalence reaches a crescendo where truth and responsibility are brought into question.
Friedlich has, perhaps, attempted to cram too much into this play as the characters rail against the changes brought about by technology.
Simultaneously, trying to find a moment simply to be heard and understood remains the constant. The personal and the professional intertwine when Jane threatens Loyd’s life on suspicion of inappropriate conduct.
The final blackout leaves the audience questioning who we can and cannot trust in today’s society.
Performance Season: Until October 12
Bookings: redstitch.net
Review by David McLean
Pictured: Darren Gilshenan (Loyd) and Jessica Clarke (Jane) in Job.
Photo: Sarah Walker.