Review of middlemen from The Link News Laughs rise in the dark office comedy middlemen at NJ Rep by Madeline Schulman Long Branch-When there are only two actors listed in the program and both of them are onstage, the sound of someone knocking on the door is extremely frightening! David Jenkins’ middleman, now playing at NJ Rep, is certainly a comedy, but a dark comedy. Michael Aaronson (David Friedlander), a fiscal analyst and Stanley Cahill (Duncan M. Rogers) a middle manager meet to work on the annual company report early one morning. Jessica Parks’ set is a perfect dreary, sterile office environment. At first, something is only a little off—Michael thinks it was raining that morning but Stan insists it was sunny. Then the first minor crisis occurs. The break room is out of milk for the coffee! Michael offers Stan non-dairy creamer, which Stan rejects, saying it is made from “the bones of horses and the bad dreams of children”. The skim milk Michael fetches from accounting is little better. “You might as well put water in your coffee,” grouses Stan. By now, the strangeness is deepening. Accounting is unaccountably deserted, and all the office workers who should have been buying the break room milk have disappeared. Not only is Alfred gone, but security—or somebody—has confiscated his computer! The telephones start ringing, as Michael gets calls from an unidentified organization asking if he has ever been to Bolivia. After his spirit is further depressed by the mysteriously malfunctioning copier, Michael breaks the fourth wall and confides to the audience, “I may have bankrupted Bolivia.” Michael loves numbers, which are always themselves, just as a coffee cup is always a coffee cup and never a cat, but lately he has been asked to say that a coffee cup is a cat, and the ramifications may have destroyed the Bolivian economy. Stan tells Michael not to worry. Stan and Michael are safely in the middle—thus the title of the play, which is never capitalized. To be at the bottom is terrible and to be on top with big houses and cars and wives with big hair, is to be a target. The middle should be safe. But as the day and the phone calls go on, safety seems to be an illusion, and Stan and Michael find wilder ways of coping. David Friedlander is excellent as nervous young Michael, and Duncan M. Rogers is equally good as the older, outwardly more confident Stan, who is hiding many troubles. Both are good at the verbal and physical comedy that runs through the play. This grimly funny picture of modern work life fits well with current headlines. Remember to brace your nerves for that unexpected knock! You can catch middlemen at NJ Rep, 179 Broadway, Long Branch, on Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00pm.; Saturdays at 3:00 and 8:00pm.; and Sundays at 2:00pm. For tickets and more information contact NJ Rep, 732-229-3166 or njrep.org
Posted on: Sat, 16 Nov 2013 04:21:51 +0000
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