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Adam Bock’s THE RECEPTIONIST, directed by Sarah Benson, officially opens tonight at the Irene Diamond Stage at the Pershing Square Signature Center. The production stars two-time Tony Award winner Katie Finneran alongside Mallori Johnson, Nael Nacer, and Will Pullen. See what the critics are saying in our review roundup.
Set in the Northeast Office, the play follows a receptionist who spends her days answering phones, making coffee, and chatting with coworkers. When an unexpected visitor from the Central Office arrives, the office routine begins to unravel.
THE RECEPTIONIST is described as a dark comedy examining bureaucracy and complicity through workplace interactions and office culture.
Robert Hofler, The Wrap: There’s often a big problem with little plays, those that clock in at 90 minutes or less. While audiences like getting home early, it could be asked of them, “Why didn’t you just stay home?” Adam Bock’s new play, “The Receptionist,” opened Thursday at the Pershing Square Signature Center, where it is presented by Second Stage. It runs 80 minutes and takes about 40 to get to the shocker.
Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Theatre Guide: Author Adam Bock takes a similar playful and mischievous approach in this work, in which ambiguity and complicity are just facts of life. Over and done in 80 minutes, the play is slight in scope, yet slyly and carefully crafted. It seeks to make your brain buzz about the world and, importantly, your interconnected place in it. It gets the job done.
Frank Scheck, New York Stage Review: Finneran, essaying the role played so memorably by Jayne Houdyshell in the original Manhattan Theater Club production, proves typically engaging, mining the play’s humor while subtly conveying that the chirpy Beverly knows more than she lets on. Her fellow performers handle their chores capably but are ultimately unable to give much depth to their underwritten characters. Lacking the stylistic finesse to give depth to its surface banalities, The Receptionist mostly makes you feel as if you’ve been put on a lengthy hold.
Thom Geier, Culture Sauce: Sarah Benson directs the show efficiently, but there’s no escaping how slight The Receptionist feels, like a drawn-out episode of Netflix’s Black Mirror with an overlong, gently comedic windup. Once we get to the big reveal — and the fallout from a failed client visit that went horribly, unforgivably sideways — The Receptionist hurriedly wraps everything up. Rather than grappling with the serious issues that are raised, or the repercussions for characters we’ve gotten to know (if only a bit), The Receptionist leaves the equivalent of a call-be-back-later Post-it note on our monitor.
Average Rating:
67.5%
.
