There is no doubt that Max Wolf Friedlich's play “JOB” includes a dramatic scene in which a highly stressed young woman points a gun at a therapist in his office. This is how the play begins.
It's a bizarre, if not entirely delusional, way for Jane (Sidney Lemon) to get the company's sanity check from Lloyd (Peter Friedman) that will allow her to return to her job after an epic mental breakdown at work. The video of her breakdown goes viral, turning her breakdown into a meme.
But this isn't the cure Jane is looking for. Quite the opposite. Over the next 80 minutes, this tense off-Broadway transition turns into a terrifying journey into the dark side of the internet.
Once the gun is back in her purse, another confrontation begins. Jane, a Gen Z tech professional, is determined to return to her job as a “content moderator” at work, where she moves offensive material off-platform at a Bay Area tech giant.
For much of the play's duration, it feels like a tense tug-of-war between a troubled employee and a beleaguered therapist who will certainly not agree to her demands, but who instinctively feels the need to help a troubled, conflicted soul who insists, “This is not me.”
Lloyd, who prides himself on taking on tough cases, carefully explores the roots of Jane's suffering and panic attacks as he examines her past. Gradually, he learns about her family and personal history, her empowerment issues at work, and her obsession with the violence she witnesses in the world—and online.
Jane responds to Lloyd's counseling with a cynical worldview and generational accusations. But despite it all, she also longs for a safe place to lie down, preferably “in the emergency room where there are no options at all.”
At first, her anger seems directed at the “baby boomer generation,” whom Lloyd represents and whom she despises. But her anger is more specific than general accusations. She has a job to do—and here, too, it was as important as it was overwhelming.
Friedman brings the same quiet, enigmatic professionalism he displayed as CEO Frank Vernon on HBO’s “Succession.” In a brilliant performance, the actor makes Lloyd’s sensitivity and easygoing personality seem a natural product of his hippie days in Berkeley. But he also understands the high stakes involved. “Please understand what’s happening here,” he tells Jane when she asks for her medical clearance. “You’re holding me hostage.”
Lemon is a charming character who brings a clever ferocity to her character. At times she is obsessed and fearful; at others, she is paralyzed and transported to another level of reality, returning only dutifully to her most important job—the job in which she feels empowered to “extract the darkness” from the web and “take it with her.”
Although it is a great and meaningful task (“I have work to do. It is not a choice”), in this particular situation it is a task without a clear path forward.
The play’s title is in all caps, perhaps because of the importance of Jane’s duties to the company and the sacrifices she endures, which are biblically significant. (“Suffering is a privilege,” she says.) But too often, the play feels overwhelmed by ideas, themes, and moral conundrums sprinkled in random bursts. There are moments when “JOB” comes close to spiraling out of control.
But then the play takes a new and unexpected turn, turning the psychological thriller on its head, as the two characters suddenly appear in completely different lights. As the depths of the Internet are further revealed, the story turns into a horror story.
Cody Spencer's unnerving sound design, Mixtly Cousin's lighting setup, and set designer Scott Penner's island-like office amid towers of screens all add subtly and directly to the show's tension, which is precisely calibrated by director Michael Hurwitz.
This two-actor exploration of the horrific new reality of “the internet where we live” is likely to gain traction in many theaters to come. But those anticipating a thrilling office showdown or tech debate should buckle up and prepare for a trip to cyber hell.
