Rough day at the office? Odd Jobs is collection of short plays which examine our relationship with the world of work. Produced by Elegy and written and directed by Madison Gerringer, it is a smart, incisive and absurd piece of theatre, sure to make audiences laugh and think in equal measure.

As its form as a series of short plays suggests, there is no linear plot. Each short play is about different characters in ludicrous positions, all pertaining to their various jobs. Their situations unfold comedically, but always lead to moments of poignancy.

In one short play, a man is employed to train a seal who doesn’t like the word “no”, preferring the positive reinforcement of being rewarded with a small fish, who is conditioned to value its boss’s approval far more than this extrinsic reward. In another, a professional mourner struggles with the intimacy of a potential romantic relationship. He finds the acceptance and expression of his own personal emotions too challenging, even though he literally emotes for a living.

The short plays are linked by amusing audio clips of people describing their weirdest jobs. They are also linked by increasingly uninhibited movement sequences which effectively represent unravelment of order into complete disorder that is the piece’s comment on the working world. And they are finally linked by their consistent questioning of how as a society we have come to define ourselves by our jobs.

The dialogue is fast-paced, distinctive and eccentric. The ensemble work is slick. Whilst multi-rolling, every actor portrays the raw truth of their characters’ situations with subtly and nuance. Matthew Gouldesbrough and Kaustubh Vaidya are particularly at home with physical comedy. Mackenzie Larsen is particularly warm.

Odd Jobs leaves its audience questioning why we go to such lengths just to pay bills and if we are complicit in this system. It’s about “odd jobs” not only in terms of the gig economy, but also jobs which are “odd”. That is, they are unusual. We meet professional mourners, clowns, seal trainers, mortuary assistants and people who watch paint dry. Perhaps a comment on the sublime and ridiculous realities of being a freelancer who pays their bills with less than conventional employment, a fun and uplifting song sung by Mackenzie Larsen and Keaton Wilkerson (with lovely voices to match) questions what it is that they actually do? Here Odd Jobs answers its own question. People try to be kind and tell the truth. When they don’t have to pay the bills doing something that is, really, absurd.

**** Four Stars

Reviewed by Ellie Ward

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