We don’t need to see a slide show of Bernard Madoff’s eerily pristine offices in New York City to know that rampaging evil can lurk in the sleekest environments. And in The Receptionist, a mostly intriguing 75-minute play now being produced by Dobama Theatre, dastardly office-cubicle doings aren’t revealed until almost the very end.
Up to that point, playwright Adam Bock has some fun with Beverly,
the phone goalie at the “Northeast office” of an unidentified company.
Bev kills time on the horn, clucking over her friend Cheryl Lynn’s
escapades with men, her grown daughter Janey and her teacup-collecting
husband.
Beverly also chats with Lorraine, another employee who is tormented
with her own man problems. Lorraine perks up and gets her flirt on when
Mr. Dart from the central office shows up to speak with their boss, the
absent Mr. Raymond. But once the boss shows up, the mood changes
dramatically and we take a peek inside the belly of a particularly
nasty beast — a cross between Blackwater and Dick Cheney’s
demented dreams.
Directed by Joel Hammer, the production touches most of the
surprise-thriller bases but falls short of capturing the full, weird
vibe that this office requires. Lissy Gulick exudes a brisk and
efficient aura as Beverly, but doesn’t take full advantage early on of
all the humorous aspects of her character’s mundane life. This makes
the climax less startling when things turn ugly.
Tom Woodward is alternately charming and chilling as Mr. Dart, and
Michael Regnier is sadly mystified as Mr. Raymond. However, Jennifer
Klika’s love-starved Lorraine is too broad by half.
The Receptionist is preceded by Eric Coble’s skit
H.R., a 15-minute amuse-bouche. Sharing the same set and cast as
the play that follows, four office denizens respond in fear to the
impending visit by (gasp!) the company’s human-resources department.
The predictable overreactions conjured by Coble and directed by Joe
Verciglio are lifted directly from Week One in Shecky’s Comedy-Writing
Workshop. And even Woodward’s boyishly energetic turn as office cutup
Chip can’t save this little brain fart of a play.
This article appears in Mar 25-31, 2009.
