JOBSWORTH
Park Theatre
★★★★
“This is very dark stuff, delivered with panache and pace”
Libby Rodliffe first introduced her character Bea, a young woman juggling three jobs, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2024. There, it ran to sell-out audiences and notched up great reviews.
Jobsworth is now having a run at the Park Theatre and this one-woman show, co written by Rodliffe and Isley Lynn, deserves every accolade I hope it gets. It is an extraordinary tour de force for Rodliffe who delivers non-stop laughs and multiple personalities, each with their own distinct accent and characteristics, over a roller coaster 90 minute performance.
Like other notable female monologues, mostly Fleabag (onstage) and Prima Facie, Jobsworth delivers a serious message, even if dressed up as comedy. This time the target is the gig economy and the uphill task of making ends meet while working for impossible employers demanding absolute commitment for the minimum living wage. Anyone sitting cosily in a well-paid permanent job escapes this position purely by a twist of fate.
Bea can manage this situation because she has wit and will, can turn on a coin and she cares. Slowly revealed in the background are her parents adding extra stress (and quite a few laughs to the mix – her father takes snakes for a walk on a leash, just to give you an idea). They have their own problems and Bea is trying to help them. So the screw slowly turns towards an explosive ending.
This is very dark stuff, delivered with panache and pace. Director Nicky Allpress has kept everything simple. The set (Matthew Cassar) is a simple white oval desk overhung with a string of round paper lampshades which change colour to punctuate, with sound tones, the turns and reversals.
If I have one criticism it is that the pace is so fast that I often found myself confused by what was happening and which character was being presented at any one moment. Over the course of the performance this became less of a problem. The differences became more apparent as we got to know the non-existent cast.
Nevertheless, this is an important commentary on our times, delivered with extraordinary versatility by Rodliffe and sharp humour to make us sit up and take notice – as we should.
JOBSWORTH
Park Theatre
Reviewed on 21st November 2025
by Louise Sibley
Photography by Harry Elletson
Previously reviewed at this venue:
THE MEAT KINGS! (INC.) OF BROOKLYN HEIGHTS | ★★★★ | November 2025
KINDLING | ★★½ | October 2025
LEE | ★★★½ | September 2025
(GOD SAVE MY) NORTHERN SOUL | ★★ | September 2025
VERMIN | ★★★★ | September 2025
THE GATHERED LEAVES | ★★★★ | August 2025
LOST WATCHES | ★★★ | August 2025
THAT BASTARD, PUCCINI! | ★★★★★ | July 2025
