Writer: Isabelle Stokes
Director: Tiny Theatre Company
The Monday to Friday, nine to five routine for legal secretaries and work besties Jools and Beth, is grating on them. Surely there’s more to life than filing, stapling, and avoiding the passive aggressive emails from HR? They try to fill their lives with meaning outside of the office – whether it’s performing stand up comedy or protesting to save the planet, but ultimately the unavoidable 40-hour work week is what their lives revolve around.
Writer Isabelle Stokes has churned out a corporate comedy, exploring friendship, boundaries and the struggle of maintaining a balanced lifestyle. While the humdrum office setting is relatable and mildly humorous, there isn’t enough of a narrative pull for it to provide much entertainment through the banal, stereotypical scenes. While many will have only just finished their nine to five job similar to the one on stage, sitting through an hour of Sixty-Seven feels like being plonked right back into the office, just when you thought you’d escaped for the day.
While the narrative itself is slightly sparse at times, the characters are written well and played out precisely. Olivia Roebuck plays full-of-energy Beth, always keen for a gossip, or anything that will distract her from her workload. Her co-worker Jools, played by Alexandra Brailsford is the complete opposite, bored of the routine and struggling to put on a happy face, trying to spin as many plates as possible without being overwhelmed. Both of these actors are really likeable and make their characters believably realistic. Both of their characters would work really well in a larger cast, with more opportunity for their mannerisms and comedic lines to blend in against various supporting story arcs.
Although the majority of the storyline focuses on the mundane slog to get past hump day, there are some more serious undertones that start to appear at the latter end of the show, beginning to give it the depth needed to allow audiences to be more than just a fly-on-the-wall at an office. It would be great to see these themes get subtly introduced slightly earlier, to allow more time for the wider narrative thread to take hold.
Runs until 11 June 2022
