Brilliant Jerks – Southwark Playhouse Borough, London

Joseph Charlton’s play Brilliant Jerks at the Southwark Playhouse Borough explores how human nature both shapes and is shaped by technological developments.

Brilliant Jerks

The Salterton Arts Review has a day job, in which I work in technology. Or at least I have done for a little while now. I found myself wondering as I watched Brilliant Jerks how much this small amount of insider knowledge informed my appreciation of the play. Definitely it meant I could keep up with talk of APIs, technical debt and coding languages. But in the end I’m not sure that matters. Brilliant Jerks is a play that seems to be about technology (the story of a ride sharing app told from the perspectives of a driver, a developer and the CEO). But actually it’s a story all about human nature.

Our world has changed immeasurably in recent decades. The internet, smartphones and applications represent a paradigm shift in how we view and interact with the world. Potentially one of the biggest changes is that we now expect everything to change on a regular basis. Bright minds the world over are actively trying to build the next big thing, the app that will go viral and make them a billionaire in the process.

One such viral app, which probably most readers have used, is a certain ride sharing app with a black logo. We don’t know the name of the company in Brilliant Jerks, but the inference is obvious. The idea comes to co-founders Tyler and Jarrod as they stand on a street corner in Paris, wishing it was easier to hail a cab. Some time later, the company well established, the story is told from the perspective of three alternating characters. Mia (Kiran Sonia Sawar) is a driver in Glasgow, using the job as a sort of holding pattern while she gets her life on track. Sean (Sean Delaney) is a coder, seduced at first by the company culture. And Tyler (Shubham Saraf) is now CEO, struggling to transition his app from tech market ‘disruptor’ to the type of mature company that reassures investors.

Same App, Different Worlds

To bring this back to the central argument, however, the technology is in the end merely an enabler. Over the course of this 90 minute play, it allows us to explore how these seismic shifts impact people at a human scale. Our three narrators alternate, telling their stories through flashbacks with the other two actors fulfilling additional roles. Their experiences are wildly different.

Mia has a history of addiction, and struggles to balance her job as a means to have sober social contact with what happens when passengers bring the triggers to her. When the son she gave up at birth gets into the back seat, what will she do? Sean’s struggle is around corporate culture and personal responsibility. He knows his colleague Amy is overlooked and treated differently because of her gender, but he still deserved that promotion. Right? An entanglement with his manager, both less than transparent either with each other or the wider world, further muddies the waters.

As for Tyler, he is responsible for the Seans and Amys, the tech bros, and all the rest of it. As the company scales up, what was once an acceptable means to an end (at least in the Silicon Valley entrepreneur culture) is now under the microscope. Can he get control of the situation? Does he want to? Having recently listened to some of How I Built This, an NPR podcast where the host interviews start-up entrepreneurs and company founders, this really resonated. It’s ultimately not easy or maybe even reasonable to expect someone to be able to start at a small-scale, encouraged to disrupt and be bold and break the rules, and then rein in that behaviour as the company grows, ensuring an attractive and non-controversial investment opportunity. Even for this particularly newly minted billionaire, with his girlfriend Clara as an external conscience, the path forward isn’t clear.

Back To The Matter At Hand

I can’t help noticing I’ve gone off on a bit of a tangent about apps and technology in general. I think this points to how interesting and relevant the themes of Brilliant Jerks are. But let’s get back to the matter at hand and discuss the play itself. As I’ve alluded to the format is quite fast-paced, scenes switching regularly between narrators. There’s never any confusion between minor characters, the actors all excellent at creating different mannerisms and flawlessly executed accents for each one. The simple, vaguely techy set by Hazel Low is flexible, a circular black desk standing in for cabs, offices, bars and more. Lighting (Rachel Sampley) and sound design (Annie May Fletcher) further helps to delineate spaces, locations and times.

What I particularly enjoyed about Brilliant Jerks was how sympathetic all of the characters were in their own way. Each addresses the audience directly, taking us into their confidence. Even when I was actively cringing at some of the tech bro excesses, you get a glimpse into their mindset, how they have been swept along into a pattern of behaviour. Some of the scenes are heartbreaking. The rapport created by the actors makes you feel for them even as they make the wrong decisions. The dialogue is naturalistic and funny, and I’m sure reflects back some of the research and interviews Charlton undertook in preparation for writing this play. It elevates the characters above the roles they stand in for: these are fully developed people rather than representative types.

Brilliant Jerks debuted in a slightly different version at the VAULT Festival in 2018. The passage of time has not changed the relevance of the play. If anything audiences are now more aware than ever of how technology can change working conditions, fortunes, and ultimately lives. Like a well-designed app, Brilliant Jerks is accessible to all, and well worth trying out. Grab yourself a ticket.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 4/5

Brilliant Jerks on until 25 March 2023