Benjamin Barlow
From left: Laura Kochanowski, Matt Reines and Tom Amacher play hopeful applicants waiting for interviews.
There’s no perfect algorithm for nailing a job interview, so sometimes it helps to take deep breaths, or at least many short ones. That’s exactly how Ned O’Reilly’s comedy, Dog Collar begins, with eccentric interviewer Mathias Foltynewicz (Jason Compton) red-faced and hyperventilating into a brown paper bag.
“Can we really ask them that question?” gasps Mathias.“Of course we can,” replies Jolyn Masters (Annie Jay). “‘Were your parents happy together?’ It says a lot about a person and what they’ve had to overcome.”
The Left of Left Center production, playing April 11 and 12 at the Brink Lounge, is a two-hour exploration of the dreaded practice job interview, saturated with humorous jabs at political and social norms. Foltynewicz and Masters serve as diabolical ringmasters in this deranged circus.
Sexual innuendos are also a cornerstone in many of the show’s five job interviews in this adults-only farce. And while audiences might find themselves, at times, lost and confused, that seems to be the point of the performance: After all, how often do people leave interviews thinking, “What just happened?”
No matter how personal the question — from parental histories to panty colors — the interviewees take the hits in stride, believing that fielding these invasive questions is better than going back out into the abyss of job hunting. As interviewees, Leigha Vilen, Matt Reines, Laura Kochanowski, Tom Amacher and Lee Wilson-Hayes deliver spot-on performances.
Despite the ending being a little abrupt and the mystery of the Jenga game remaining unsolved, Dog Collar gives audiences a chance to laugh in the face of their pain.
Dog Collar will be performed at the Brink Lounge April 11 and 12 at 7:30 p.m. Advance seating is available.
