The Elevator is a smart commentary on corporate culture and a thrilling piece of theatre

Prudence Upton/Ensemble How would you feel about being stuck in an elevator with your boss? In Eloise Snape’s new play The Elevator, premiering at Sydney’s Ensemble theatre, the boss is Margot (Leanna Walsman), CEO of tech company Eco Engines.

Margot has just returned to work, a day after giving birth.

Then the AI-operated elevator of the company building malfunctions, trapping her inside with the public relations crisis manager, Alison (Shirong Wu), and the building janitor, Ollie (Di Adams).

The elevator breaking down is not the only thing that has gone wrong.

One of the AI-operated vehicles designed by Eco Engines has crashed into a man, leaving him in a critical condition.

Margot has returned to work to clean up the mess, while her own body is quite literally leaking.

Leeanna Walsman, Di Adams (front and centre) and Shirong Wu.

Prudence Upton/Ensemble As they enter the elevator, Margot directs Alison on drafting the company’s press statement.

She corrects Alison, applying lashings of spin: it was an “incident” not a “crash”; the person is a “pedestrian”, not a “victim”.

Margot is accustomed to dehumanising people to get ahead in the ruthless, male-dominated corporate culture she operates in.

Margot also dehumanises herself, prolonging the need to pump breast milk and covering up her leaking body rather admitting she needs help.

Margot was six months pregnant when she was hired, and we learn her appointment was a result of the company’s feminist virtue-signalling after the previous, male CEO was stood down on sexual assault allegations.

But his voice is still heard – literally, in the company’s AI model, Taurus.

And his toxic, misogynistic legacy suffuses the company’s operations.