The Boss Of It All at Assembly Roxy is an intriguing modern farce adapted from the film by Lars Von Trier. The central premise is one faced by anyone who’s ever been in charge of anything – how to be loved by the workers and yet still take the hard- headed decisions capitalism seems to dictate?
It’s a very funny play with some superb set-pieces, crisply staged by Jack McNamara, elegantly designed by Lily Arnold, and very engagingly performed by a superb cast – full of astute comic observation and a keen eye for office ‘types’.
The play is slightly self conscious, with an unnecessary Von-Trier-esque voiceover, and a tendency to try to apologize for the theatricality of theatre. But despite this it makes some devastating points about the inherent fakeness of employee/employer relationships, and aspires to a more universal satire with its central conceit of an actor both aware that he is in a play, and yet, comically, blurring the line between life and drama.
Four Stars
Submitted by Ade Morris
