Sam+Machinal

Machinal Critique THEA 2000 Samantha Krupica

Machinal is a unique, art-house type play about a young mentality unstable woman in the early 20th century. It can also be described as modern and of the expressionist movement. The play itself was also quite surprising, due to the highly unconventional stylization.

I believe that the author could have told her story better. The whole thing was rather confusing. It is almost if the entire play is within the disturbed mind of the young woman. The woman is a murderer and at times is very clearly, “crazy,” as she calls herself many times. Further, the ensemble, almost exclusively spoke over each other and nothing was ever “normal.” There was a lot of symbolism and dance movement. The movement was interesting and frankly, unnecessary. At numerous times, the actors were just rolling on the floor for long spans of time, and it was very different from any play I have ever seen. The play was written in 1928 by Sophie Treadwell and is based on a true story of a woman by the name of Ruth Snyder. It would have been easier to understand the complexities of the story with a more conventional and to-the-point production.

The subject matter was definitely worthwhile to me. The overall themes of the play were highly relatable and relevant today. The play explored topics of mental health, women’s issues, murder and marriage. All of which seem extremely risky for a play of its time. The characters in the play do not have names and instead are simply labeled “young woman,” or “mother,” and so on. This lack of a personable name enables the story to apply to a broader audience and imply that these problems are universal and could possibly relate to any woman. The woman’s dilemma between money and marriage is a common dilemma. However, her line of logic and murderess tendencies are extreme. The play can be seen as a comment on the dangers of societal norms. The expectations and fears placed on the woman in her young life, forces her to rush into a loveless marriage in order to survive her daily life. In order to rest and pay for her mother’s life, she must marry her boss, or she will be fired and broke. In this instance she is mentally trapped and this is projected onstage with the ensemble blocking her every exit with the large black boxes. So, the boxes act as the literal symbolism of her being stuck and forced to marry to save herself and her mother. It is with these actions that we can see the beginning of her mental decline. Her lines here foreshadow her eventual murder of her husband, as she goes off on her mother and says that she will kill her for disagreeing with her.

I believe that the actors did credible jobs and conveyed the authors intent as well as possible. The main actress did an incredible job or portraying many different emotions at once, all the while performing strange-dance like motions. The lines were also unconventional. Further, the main actress, at times, had incredibly long monologues of almost nonsense. It was amazing how good of a job she did. The rest of the cast all played multiple roles at once. The role of the mother was also the role of several random townspeople and dancers. The ensemble all played office workers and other people of the world, which was a bit confusing.

The physical was highly imaginative; there was nothing realistic about it. The set itself was only a handful of black boxes set atop a completely blank, black background. Occasionally, a few electronic screens projected obscure images though. There were also very minimal props. There were only a few flowers, stones and gloves. The actors all wore black pants and shirts, except for the lead actress who wore a dress. The lighting in the play was also primarily blue or done with handheld flashlights. In this case the actors themselves held the flashlights. All the physical aspects of the play were done very well. However, because of the minimalist set and small cast, I believe that the play would have been more apt for a trust, or round stage in a black box rather than the proscenium stage where it was held. This closer set up would allow the audience to get a better view of the young woman’s emotions. Which would be more effective, in my opinion, for the intellectual play.

The audience did not have any extreme actions to the play. Personally, I was shocked and taken aback by most of the play, and I kept looking around to see others reactions in the audience. However, they are acted like the play was conventionally normal. The play also did not have an intermission, so I could not gauge their reactions in the middle. There were a few other students from class on the night I saw the play, and we spoke briefly afterwards on the absurdities of the play itself.

I went to the play with one of my friends and she thought it was very strange. She had pretty much the same ideas that I had regarding the strangeness and subject matter. I always take the trouble to recommend plays to my friends, as theatre is one of my favorite things. My interest in a play would lead me to find other plays by the same actor. This play however, was not a favorite of mine, so I do not think I will look up other plays by Treadwell.