Next week, Mockingbird presents the Canberra premiere of Max Wolf Friedlich’s JOB, a recent New York success that entertainment news website Vulture praised as “a slick, cleverly crafted drop-tower ride”.

Jane (Jayde Dowhy), a young woman working at a tech company, is on forced leave after a public breakdown, and must undergo a crisis therapy assessment with psychologist Loyd (Richard Manning) before she can return to work.

But the therapy session begins at gunpoint, and escalates into a psychological duel…

Director Zac Bridgman calls the play “a tense, provocative two-hander for our digital age – a riveting battle of wits”.

For him, the 80-minute play feels cinematic: two actors in a single setting, with power shifting between the younger woman and the older man, as in some of his favourite films.

“The audience doesn’t really know who to trust at a given moment from beat to beat,” Bridgman says. “Each word is a battering ram that they use on each other.”

The audience enters as the third character watching the drama, Bridgman says, almost like the lens of a camera.

“The central mystery and conceit aren’t revealed until the very end, so you’re propelled along to find out why these two characters are where they are. When you leave the play, not every question’s answered…”

The play also explores technology, artificial intelligence, cancel culture, and surveillance; trauma and mental health; the blurred line between our online and real-world lives; corporate responsibility; and modern society’s obsession with jobs.

“It bounces between genres intentionally,” Bridgman says. “It’s a psychological thriller; it’s also a comedy; but it is also a large examination into the online nature of our world, the fact that we have a device that fits in our pocket that connects to every element of our life, and how that can be deeply disturbing.”

Or, as Vulture said when it opened in New York, JOB is “a Black Mirror episode with the sci-fi dialled down (because the horrors are real) and the punchy, cynical, HBO-ready dialogue dialled up.”

Come and be thrilled – and made to think.

JOB, by Max Wolf Friedlich, directed by Zac Bridgman. The Mockingbird Studio, Belconnen Arts Centre, 9-12 September 2026. Tickets: $40 full / $33 for under-33s and those aged 66 and over. Bookings: www.belcoarts.com.au/JOB.