Beginning a run at Park Theatre this month is ‘Jobsworth’, a funny solo show about a young woman forced to juggle more than one full-time job to stay solvent, which completed an acclaimed sell out run at the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe. 

The show, produced by Prentice Productions, is co-written by Libby Rodliffe and Isley Linn, and is based on Libby’s own, difficult life experiences of living and working in London. And Libby isn’t just a co-writer – she performs the show as well.

I spoke to her to find out more. 

CM: Can you start by telling us a bit about the narrative of the play? What story does it tell?
LR: ‘Jobsworth’ is about a young woman called Bea, who is secretly juggling three full-time jobs – a mixture of remotely and in person.

None of her bosses know about the others and she needs to keep it that way, because the only reason she’s doing this is to try and pay off the large sum of debt she’s suddenly found herself in.

When one of her bosses catches her working on the concierge desk of a luxury apartment building, it’s only the threat of mutual destruction that stops the plates she’s expertly spinning from crashing down around her.

CM: What are the primary themes of the play? 
LR: ‘Jobsworth’ is a modern workplace comedy about debt, the cost-of-living crisis and those bosses we all love to hate.

If you love to see the rise of an underdog, this play is for you!

CM: Would you regard it as political? Does it have a message? 
LR: I think theatre is intrinsically political! This show is very funny, with big, relatable characters and twists and turns, but it has an underbelly of debt and mental health. 

Debt carries so much shame, and there’s such secrecy around money and finances. It’s often this secrecy which causes those financial struggles to snowball. I think the message in its simplest form is to talk about money more.

CM: What was the inspiration for the show? What made you want to create a piece of work on this topic? 
LR: ‘Jobsworth’ is based on my experiences from the last ten years of temping in London to try and keep myself afloat in between acting jobs. I’ve had some wonderful jobs, and met some great people, and I’ve had some pretty chronic ones too.

I used to voice note my co-writer Isley Lynn – probably far too often – to scream, cry and laugh – the latter less often – about that week’s trials and tribulations. The stories became so ridiculous that Isley suggested we write a play about it. 

CM: Is the play very true to what  actually happened or is there some exaggeration / artistic licence? 
LR: Oh there is a very healthy handful of artistic licence in this play!

Though I did work as concierge at a luxury apartment building, and I have dog-walked and dog-sat, and done data entry, and been a PA… you’ll have to come and see the play to see where the artistic licence comes in!

CM: As you have mentioned, your co-writer on the play is acclaimed playwright Isley Lynn. Can you tell us more about how that collaboration came about and how your creative process worked?
LR: I saw Isley’s play ‘Skin A Cat’ in 2016 at the sorely missed Bunker Theatre in London and wrote their name down in my Excel spreadsheet of ‘People I’d Like To Work With’.

We met about a year later at a scratch night, and then a year or so after that I was cast in the ‘Skin A Cat’ UK tour and Edinburgh Fringe run. 

We’ve enjoyed many years of friendship since and often talked about making work together. It was the years of voice notes and arduous lockdown era that finally pushed us to get started.

We wrote ‘Jobsworth’ in Isley’s attic – which sounds grim but is a beyond beautiful place – chatting for ages about what could happen, and who the characters could be, and then Isley would press record on their phone and I’d improvise around what we’d discussed. 

It was such a joyful process. 

CM: Did you always plan to perform it yourself? 
Absolutely!

CM: How did your run in Edinburgh go?
LR: Edinburgh was beyond what any of us expected.

To sell out like we did was the most special feeling; people were really eager to come and share their workplace stories with me after the show – the good, the bad, the hilarious – and there were so many people who shared stories of financial struggles too. 

We thought we would have audiences of younger generations; young freelancers, younger employees at the early stages of their careers. And whilst this was true for the beginning of the run, by the end we had a totally varied audience demographic.

There were lots of older people coming and enjoying it too – those who’ve finished working and have a lifetime of stories and experiences – as well as having lived through many financial crashes and crises. 

It was a really validating experience; this show is relatable to so many people. 

CM: Can you tell us about yourself now? How did you come to be pursuing an artistic career? 
LR: It’s the boring old answer here I’m afraid – I always wanted to act. 

And it’s not like I haven’t tried other things! Even the concierge job ended up being an acting job in the end. 

CM: What have been the highlights of working in the arts thus far? 
LR: Highlight of the whole thing so far is holding a published copy of ‘Jobsworth’ at the Edinburgh Fringe before going on stage to a full house – I cried a lot that afternoon. 

CM: What aims and ambitions do you have for the future? 
LR: I’d like to keep making work and being in good work. I’d like to be working, basically.

CM: What’s coming next for you after this?
LR: Next year I’m going to start making a couple of short films I’ve written. And there’s more to come for ‘Jobsworth’!

‘Jobsworth’ is on at Park Theatre from 19 Nov-6 Dec. Head to the venue website here for more information and to book tickets. 

LINKS: parktheatre.co.uk | prenticeproductions.co.uk | x.com/LibbyRodliffe