The two-handed play is set in a psychologists office as Sydney has just been put on furlough from her tech job for having a nervous breakdown in the middle of a business meeting.  She needs to get a signed release from the therapist, Peter, to be able to return to work.  The play’s first moment begins with her holding a gun against her therapist – so you know this is not going to be therapy as we know it.  

On a side note, It is interesting that this is the second play of this visit to NYC that talks about the dark, dangerous side of the internet.  Here, in Job, Sydney has the interesting, repellent job of sifting through every clipping identified by internet “bots” that sift though the internet looking for clippings that are unacceptable for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Sydney’s day is filled with sifting through these identified clippings of the very worst of the dark web – pedophilia, pornography, murder, torture, abuse, necrophilia, bestiality, etc.- – the VERY worst of life.  Her job is to view them, mark them as inappropriate and send them to the trashcan of the internet where hopefully social media will NEVER be able to access them.   The job is ugly beyond measure and can so easily lead anyone to a breakdown – but it can also lead someone to be a bit of a vigilante – and I say nothing more.

The play is fast and potent and wastes no words in getting to the heart of pain and abuse.  Psychotherapy is revealed to be both a blessing and a curse.  In lesser plays, the “therapist’s couch” gives a cliche setting for a poorly written play – but here, in Job, it is the perfect setting for this blistering drama.