Brilliant Jerks review: An engrossing examination of tech culture

An engrossing examination of tech culture, Director Katie-Ann McDonough brings to life Joseph Carlton’s work Brilliant Jerks, the story of a successful taxi hailing app told through three compelling narratives.

The play opens with the voice of Mia (Kiran Sonia Sowar), a night driver for the app with a dark past shrouded in drug and alcohol abuse, who immediately establishes the theme of the evening: humanity. Despite the difficulties of her past, the audience see a character looking for redemption, particularly as we learn about her decision to give up her child for adoption during her teenage years.

Image: Brilliant Jerks at Southwark Playhouse © Nick Rutter (@nickrutterarts)

Sean’s narrative is then introduced (Sean Delaney), a programmer working for the app, wrapped up in the toxic culture which ultimately favours maleness. Throughout the play, Sean finds himself relaying messages between the women of the office and his management team about the disadvantages and inferior nature with which their treated, simply for the fact of being female. Though this might seem like an act of benevolence, we never see any admission from Sean that his female counterparts might be just as talented or capable as he is. Instead, Sean enjoys the benefits this culture brings him, in the form of promotions and a hedonistic lifestyle, until it comes crashing down for him.

Finally, we are introduced to Tyler (Shubham Saraf), one of the pioneers of the app who favours the growth of the company over resolving the hyper-masculine and frat-like culture, a culture explored in depth in Anna Weiner’s Uncanny Valley. Tyler’s narrative is the stereotypical story of a man who has everything and loses it, but not through any external circumstances, but purely because of his inability to affect change within himself and the company he has created.

Image: Brilliant Jerks at Southwark Playhouse © Nick Rutter (@nickrutterarts)

Through a combination of simple set design – a large table acts as a cab, a workspace, a night club and much more – and carefully chosen sounds, the audience are encouraged to focus on the humanity of each of these characters, despite their mistakes. Commonly, all characters appear to have become so enveloped in the situations they find themselves in, this has ultimately been the cause of their demise. Mia is caught in the dark world of addiction, causing her to make a decision about her child that we feel she regrets. Sean exists deep in the toxic tech culture, so much so he hasn’t considered what would happen were he expelled from it. Tyler’s arrogance about his own importance in the company and valuing of money over culture is ultimately his hamartia.

Image: Brilliant Jerks at Southwark Playhouse © Nick Rutter (@nickrutterarts)

The acting throughout the play is strong, with the actors seamlessly slipping between characters; as a result, the audience has absolute buy-in to not just the stories, but also the complex nature of each of the characters. Intrinsically, none of them are bad people, but they all have faults, misjudgements and complications, making them characters we sympathise with. Their monologues provide us with an in-depth insight into why they have behaved as they have, causing us to understand something deeper about human nature and the lengths we will go to in order to succeed. An engaging and gripping 90 minutes of theatre, Katie-Ann McDonough’s adaption is well worth a watch.

Brilliant Jerks runs until the 25th of March at the Southwark Playhouse, located close to both Elephant and Castle and Borough tube stations.

Location: Southwark Playhouse, 77-84 Newington Causeway, London SE1 6BD. Price: from £24. Concessions available. Book now.

Words by Emma Chadwick