Review: JOB at Signature Theatre

A psychological game of “cat and mouse” between a therapist and a client carries the audience through the tensions wrought by technology run amok in the multi-layered and compelling play Job. Playwright Max Wolf Friedlich has written a play that is being presented in its first regional theatre production at Signature Theatre.

This eighty minute “two -hander” is intimately staged in the Signature Theatre’s Ark Theatre ----and is directed with true taut delineation and control by Matthew Gardiner. The play is truly a challenge in that it portrays both a more intimate duel of wits and emotion by the leads while also looking at the battle between ontological reality and perception that is thwarted by constant immersion with the internet and technology. (The play has the power and detail of David Mamet’s superb two-hander Oleanna).

Only a very brief description of the plot is feasible as it would spoil the effect of the play to reveal too much. The social media content monitor who lost her job due to a viral meltdown over stress from her job – (she sees so much horrific video/viral content) ---is a walking creation of a person worn down by stress. This character (Jane) is told by her employer that she must seek therapy, but she cannot totally trust a therapist (Loyd) when she is under so much psychic stress. The play takes place in downtown San Francisco in January 2020, and it is not for the faint-hearted as there are many references to real life traumas detailed in the play.

In the development of the two characters---about two-thirds of the way through the play, the personality traits of the characters are reversed and the “in control” therapist becomes more manic, and the character of Jane becomes more in control and dominant. This reversal of personality traits works well and is subtly performed by the two marvelous actors who play such quixotic characters. I was often reminded of the transference of personality in Sam Shepard’s play True West as well as the Ingmar Bergman film Persona.

The blurring of the technological/digital world with the real world each usurping and/or intertwining with one another is conveyed throughout the play. With the deliberate blurring of the lines between reality and what we perceive through the lens of the computer or cell phone screen, the playwright seems to be questioning society’s mental health as well as the individual’s mental health as to being able to assimilate such an overload of sensory and information-laden technology.

This play anticipates the technological horrors of the modern opera Grounded (in the opera, Reaper drone operators must control drones that kill people from afar via remote control); in this play the content moderator must objectively flag upsetting traumatic incidents that she is shown from afar. In an unsettling connection to the current societal climate, she seems forced to turn to vigilantism to take (what she perceives as) agency over her life.

Another layer of this play is the need to feel like a loyal member of the labor force with a “job” that grants agency and self-respect beyond an autonomous and cold bureaucracy.

The two fine actors in this play bring all the myriad themes described by the playwright to vivid life. Eric Hissom, as the therapist Loyd, delivers a tightly reined in performance as befits the ostensible objectivity of a therapist. Mr. Hissom’s unraveling of control in the latter part of the play is a study in acting control and timing.

Jordan Slattery as Jane, the social media content moderator whose screaming episode goes viral, is superb at blending disparate moods of anxiety, strength, precociousness, and humor into an authentically enigmatic character. Ms. Slattery’s role demands utter stamina and calling on interior memory –and she delivers an astonishing performance.

The only criticism of this play that I have is that there are a couple instances where a plot development of the play seemed to be too conveniently imposed upon/manipulated by the playwright and seemed a bit too coincidental to believe as credible.

Technical components are almost equal parts of the ensemble –with sound design by Kenny Neal intermixing with the lighting design by Colin K. Bills in a masterful way; at various intervals there is intentional loud static and blaring audio feedback interrupting the interplay of the two characters. I felt that this was meant to evoke the disturbance of the technological world disturbing real human connection. Dissonance has intruded on reality.

Scenic design by Luciana Stecconi was sleekly delineated with just the right touches ----such as white blinds on the upstage center wall and a convertible couch and two chairs to convey a therapist’s office.

By the end of this play, a shocking finale occurs which left the audience gasping. This play is a bold and solid triumph for playwright Max Wolf Friedlich and a hearty burst of applause to Signature Theatre for presenting the first regional theatre production of this relevant play.

Running Time: 80 minutes with no intermission

Job runs through March 16, 2025, at the Signature Theatre located at 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington VA, 22206.

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