Advertisement
Stay in the Loop
BSR publishes on a weekly schedule, with an email newsletter every Wednesday and Thursday morning. There’s no paywall, and subscribing is always free.
O, to be young, shallow and exploited
Leslye Headland's "Assistance' at the Wilma
Steve Cohen
Working for a tyrannical and demeaning boss is no fun, as Leslye Headland's attempt at comedy proves.
I too have experienced bullying employers like the fictional Daniel Weisinger of Assistance, so I hoped to find comfort in situations I could relate to. Assistance, however, merely strings together 90 minutes of obnoxious confrontations.
The characters share two common characteristics: youth and a masochistic attraction to people in power. The accomplished 20-somethings I know would be offended by this caricature.
The unseen boss, similarly, is said to be rich and powerful, but Assistance never discloses the nature of his business (although Headland once worked as an assistant to the movie producer Harvey Weinstein).
As the crass and shallow young office workers disintegrate emotionally, Headland's script and David Kennedy's direction call on them to mug hysterically while they smoke, display their dance moves and imitate animals and monsters.
The subject matter has a derivative feel— reminiscent of office films like Horrible Bosses and The Devil Wears Prada— and its reliance on tired and repetitive gimmicks stretches back even farther— say, to Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park of the "'60s, in which characters visiting the newlyweds' apartment complained incessantly about climbing the stairs.
Here's one of the smartest lines in the script, about an assistant who was fired: "The Heathers of the world don't last longer than six weeks; they die right after they're born, like cloned sheep." That's as witty as the dialogue gets.
Perhaps this subject would fare better as a drama; a Tracy Letts might be able to pull it off. But Headland trots out a series of gags unworthy of the worst TV sitcoms.
Cast members Kevin Meehan, Kate Czajkowski, Jake Blouch, Kahyum Kim, Emily Althaus and Michael Doherty cope well with their futile assignments.
At the play's conclusion, the scenery collapses, presumably in lieu of relationships collapsing or any other dramatic resolution.
One character repeatedly warns another: "Don't go there. The place you're going, don't!" Good advice.
I too have experienced bullying employers like the fictional Daniel Weisinger of Assistance, so I hoped to find comfort in situations I could relate to. Assistance, however, merely strings together 90 minutes of obnoxious confrontations.
The characters share two common characteristics: youth and a masochistic attraction to people in power. The accomplished 20-somethings I know would be offended by this caricature.
The unseen boss, similarly, is said to be rich and powerful, but Assistance never discloses the nature of his business (although Headland once worked as an assistant to the movie producer Harvey Weinstein).
As the crass and shallow young office workers disintegrate emotionally, Headland's script and David Kennedy's direction call on them to mug hysterically while they smoke, display their dance moves and imitate animals and monsters.
The subject matter has a derivative feel— reminiscent of office films like Horrible Bosses and The Devil Wears Prada— and its reliance on tired and repetitive gimmicks stretches back even farther— say, to Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park of the "'60s, in which characters visiting the newlyweds' apartment complained incessantly about climbing the stairs.
Here's one of the smartest lines in the script, about an assistant who was fired: "The Heathers of the world don't last longer than six weeks; they die right after they're born, like cloned sheep." That's as witty as the dialogue gets.
Perhaps this subject would fare better as a drama; a Tracy Letts might be able to pull it off. But Headland trots out a series of gags unworthy of the worst TV sitcoms.
Cast members Kevin Meehan, Kate Czajkowski, Jake Blouch, Kahyum Kim, Emily Althaus and Michael Doherty cope well with their futile assignments.
At the play's conclusion, the scenery collapses, presumably in lieu of relationships collapsing or any other dramatic resolution.
One character repeatedly warns another: "Don't go there. The place you're going, don't!" Good advice.
Sign up for our newsletter
All of the week's new articles, all in one place. Sign up for the free weekly BSR newsletters, and don't miss a conversation.
