Erika Sheffer’s play The Fundamentals opens with a vision of luxury, a New York hotel at the top end of the range, the destination of choice for the city’s richest classes. Then it swirls down into the depths of the hotel, where the cleaners and other mistreated, underpaid staff on the sharp end of the American economic squeeze try to find a narrow foothold upon which to climb the corporate ladder to higher wages and greater life security. The arrival of a ruthless new manager turns this atmosphere to one of a circular firing squad, as the staff are encouraged to betray and double-cross their colleagues in exchange for their own advancement. The Fundamentals explores the exploitation and economic sadism that fuels the late capitalist society, and Playhouse Teater are hosting a reading of the play in English in December.
Photo: Kjell Åström
