Psychological thriller comes to Boston stage with 2-actor production of "Job"
What does it take to build a psychological thriller on stage? For the Boston SpeakEasy Stage production of "Job," it takes just two actors.
"It's a very exciting, tense play with a lot of twists and turns," said actor Josephine Moshiri Elwood.
Elwood plays "Jane", a woman trying to get rehired by her job as an internet content moderator after having a breakdown at work. The other actor, Dennis Trainor Jr, portrays "Loyd" a therapist who will determine if Jane is healthy enough to return to work.
Trainer explained, "We meet two people at the intersection of a very fraught relationship and moment in both of their lives."
"She needs a lot from him in the moment, but there's all other kinds of things simmering beneath the surface," Elwood said.
Director Marianna Bassham loves working on pieces that are a bit scary.
"For me, and I think for there's certain people and these are my people who are like, 'A good and fun (time) is being on the edge of my seat, being worried about what's gonna happen next."
This real-time piece, playing out in less than 80 minutes, fits the bill.
"It starts with a bang and it never relents," Bassham said. "It's as if the audience is in the same pressurized situation that the characters are in. I mean, we're all in this room together. That's a cool thing about theater, it's just like the tension that is here is the tension that is there, it is the tension of the entire room. "
The actors know it too.
"I can feel the audience leaning in, trying to put the pieces together, trying to figure out what the next puzzle piece in there is going to drop," Trainer said.
"You just feel everything gets still and quiet and everybody's just leaning in and trying to just track and put together the pieces," added Elwood. "It really does feel like there's detective work going on in the audience."
You can see SpeakEasy Stage's production of "Job" at the Calderwood Pavilion in Boston's South End through February 7th.
