The Increasingly Surreal Office Drama is
becoming a recognisable sub-genre. White-collar workers of some
description or other, or of none, seem at first to be continuing the
daily grind, but little by little the extremes of the outside world or
their fantasies and fears begin to irrupt into that bland environment,
until by the end of, say, 90 minutes’ playing time the space is as
unrecognisable as the characters, if they are even still present.
Ed
Harris’s first play to receive a major London production falls squarely
within this constituency. Marie, Only Joe and Elvis begin by
monotonously processing carers’ timesheets, engaging in abrasive banter
with one another and enduring their boss Honey who manages to be at
once patronising and a martinet. The chatter gradually becomes infested
with bizarre and slightly grotesque stories of a Philip Ridleyan
flavour. As the workload increases, especially for Marie who begins to
stay on almost overnight, events themselves become similarly outré. An
office cleaner who doesn’t clean and converses entirely in singsong
gibberish confides in Marie about (we infer) her imminent wedding;
Elvis (whose nickname is due to his habit of grunting, “Uh-hurr-huh”)
woos her with a Presleyesque number to which the others sing in backing
vocals “Administratin’… administratin’…”; Honey’s nervous tic increases
to the point where she resembles the late Leonard Rossiter in full
spate in the sitcom
Rising Damp; matters build to both an apotheosis and an inferno of sorts, accompanied by the original Hungarian version of “Gloomy Sunday”.
Harris
and director Steve Marmion pack a lot into an hour and a half, and the
result is never less than entertaining and intriguing. I am unsure,
however, whether there is anything more to it, at least anything more
than a proof that Honey’s command to “Leave your emotions, your
problems and your X, Y and Z at home” is impossible to obey, a point
which is surely too obvious to need demonstrating. Robyn Addison’s
Marie is the axis of normality around which the assorted weirdness
turns, and yet whose memories and desires seem to inform much of it.
Simon Kunz is not afraid to make himself comprehensively unlikeable as
Only Joe, until the pathos at the bottom of his character is revealed.
And Harris shows that he merits this higher-profile exposure and is a
writer worth watching.
Written for the Financial
Times.