The Studio Theatre's production of The Receptionist is a creepy, but captivating little button of a play that manages to connect the flavorless futility of office culture with the complicated fault lines of trust, conscience, surveillance, and guilt-by-association that the war on terror has so grossly contemporized for our generation.
Nancy Paris plays Beverly Wilkins, a heavy-set, tea-cup-collecting office secretary with a sweet tooth for pastries and gossip. Every workplace has a pen nazi, and in the case of the "Northeast" office, Beverly's the one who lays down the law. As Lorraine, Rachel Holt, meanwhile, plays the part of the quintessential pen thief along with the prototypical young female professional: energetic, oblivious or at least indifferent to office etiquette, and more concerned with personal matters than professional. Holt bursts onstage, late for work (as usual) because she "missed her bus" and is greeted by Beverly's rehearsed and disapproving smile. When Mr. Dart (Adam Jonas Segaller) enters the office looking for Lorraine's boss, she proceeds to flirt and wink at him until she confirms that--despite his mutually expressed interest--he's married and the father of a 4-year-old paste-eating son.
Aside from his flirtation with infidelity, Mr. Dart brings a far more troubling dynamic to the play. Awkwardly and forcefully cheerful, Mr. Dart is the second red flag that the Northeast office fills a peculiar business niche. The first flag is waved when Mr. Raymond--the office director who Mr. Dart is looking for--nervously appears on stage in a cold sweat under a menacing spotlight. Before the muzak kicks in and the fluorescent office lights turn on, Mr. Raymond opens the play explaining that he can not stand rabbit hunting, and much rather go fishing because he's able to kill an animal in a more "humane" way by cutting its gills and placing it back in the water to "fall asleep." The next time the audience sees him, he's explaining to Beverly and Lorraine that he is feeling terribly guilty and something went very "wrong" the other day with a client. To divulge more would ruin the twist, but it doesn't involve rabbit-hunting.
Photo by Scott Suchman.
Paris and Holt have hilarious chemistry on-stage. Paris provides a detailed performance, finely sharpening her character's nuances. Holt also does a great job of chiseling out a real-life character that is painfully familiar. And while it may seem that Lorraine doesn't know how to keep work and playseparate, Holt masterfully conceals the true nature of her profession by distractingly feeding Beverly and the audience juicy morsels of personal information and keeping her actual work behind closed doors. Segaller, however, comes off as a bit forced as Mr. Dart. Certainly his character is explicitly shady, absurd, and ultimately evil, yet Segaller also comes off as bumbling and psychopathic. Whether that was playwright Adam Bock's intention or not; a sketchy, but elegant and dashing Mr. Dart might have been more disturbingly effective.
Overall, The Receptionist blends comedy and horror enough to entertain, but not enough to satisfy. Bock's dystopian script is so consumed with developing and poking fun at office culture, that the real drama of the play doesn't get enough stage time for the larger lessons of the play to mature. The moralizing message is left with short legs to stand on and a second act or sequel feels imminent, but isn't. Yet, the lessons don't necessarily have to age for the play to produce a shiver down your spine as you realize that the most humanizing element of the play--the senseless and guilt-ridden Mr. Brennan--is also the most absent and who and what you identified with isn't quite what you thought.
THE RECEPTIONIST
Starring Nancy Paris, Rachel Holt, Adam Jonas Segaller and John Brennan. Directed by Kate Van Burek Davis, set design by Hannah J. Crowell, and costume design by Ana Marie A. Salamat. Produced by the Studio Theatre: 1501 14th st, NW. Through March 22.
Previously in Live DC:
- 2/9: LiveDC: Theophilus London @ 930 Club
- 2/9: Best Weekend Bets
- 2/8: LiveDC: Kathleen Edwards @ 930 Club
- 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
- 2/8: LiveDC: Thurston Moore/ Kurt Vile @ Black Cat
- 2/7: LiveDC: Demetri Martin @ Warner Theatre
- 2/7: LiveDC: Augustana/ Graffiti6 @ 930 Club
- 2/6: LiveDC: All Things Go Presents: Reptar/ Casual Curious/ Fort Lean @ Gibson Guitar Showroom
- 2/6: LiveDC: TYCHO/ Beacon @ RNR Hotel
- 2/6: LiveDC: The Kills / Jeff The Brotherhood @ 9:30 Club
God loves a cheerful giver.
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