Tonight, my final booking - for the week - with Up in the Cheap Seats (UITCS), for Brilliant Jerks at Southwark Playhouse. And wouldn't you know it, I still had credit on my Pay as you Go subscription, so got it for free! Looked like it'd be just me and the organiser, but at the last minute, we had another subscriber. Great to see her again, too!
Earlier, I got a warning email from the theatre, to warn me to ensure I was going to the right venue.. they have a new one new, down the road.
My way to the quickest bus took me by The Lucas Arms, so I ate there. Decided I'd had enough steak and ale pie for the moment, and had the roast chicken instead.. I'll be back to the pie next, it's more substantial than what I had. Anyway, just as I arrived, so did a group called the Acrobats - looked like visually impaired people, all accompanied by seeing minders! They go out regularly for a meal, it seems - great facility for them.
And so to the theatre, where I arrived ridiculously early - fine, it had been a stressful day at work, I could do with chilling. They still have the sign saying to "check in at the box office" - so I did, and he spent ages looking for a ticket that I had on my phone! "Oh, you have an e-ticket!" sez he. "Go on in then!" Really, they should take down that sign..
I was early enough to get a seat at a table, which filled up with sundry people. Who all eventually dissipated - and indeed, the place was beginning to empty by the time my companions arrived! The other show starts earlier, you see. And we chatted happily until it was time to go in.
Seating was unassigned - we ended up in the second row:
Funky desk - appropriately for a tech environment. Because, you see, this is about the founders of a kind of taxi app - yeah, we all know it's Uber. It's really interesting - and really true-to-life, from my experience. The three actors switch roles - sometimes representing the cuttthroat board of the company, sometimes the programmers, dealing with a troublesome manager - sometimes the drivers, with their variety of experiences.
It's notable that they mention both ADHD and autism - tech is known to be a good career for people who fall into both categories. They're social conditions, characterised by a difficulty in social situations: and work that has you staring at a computer screen minimises social interactions. (I always remember a cartoon, years ago, with a kid playing videogames, watched over by his optimistic parents, who dream of him earning a six-figure salary for shooting aliens. Well gee, truth is stranger than fiction - that's exactly what happened..)
Mix into that a toxic corporate culture, led by people who had a bright idea one day and made millions from it, so they think they can do no wrong! (It's not unheard of - one guy from my class in college started his own tech company, sold it to a multinational, and retired on the proceeds. He was 25.) And on top of that, consider the drivers, at the frontline - the company depends on them, but do they recognise that? Not a bit of it - they live in a different world.
So - brilliant, but jerks. It's a very rounded look inside a major tech company - fast-paced and clever, finding the nub of every situation it handles. Perhaps better appreciated by those who work in the industry, but still a nice piece of work. Runs till the 25th - check it out!
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