AP+Critique+of+Machinal

Ally Parker Richmond Theatre 2000 6 February 2017 Critique of Machinal Machinal, by Sophie Treadwell is about a woman, Helen, who falls into the norms of society unwillingly, yet lives this expected, trapped life for years before finally cracking. She lives with her mother until she marries her boss, whom she cannot stand, and has a child with him. Through years of living with this arrogant, vulgar husband and taking care of a child she does not truly love, she almost loses it. However, after finding someone that actually excites her and having an affair with him, she kills her husband and is convicted and executed for it. I enjoyed this performance for the most part. I think the author told her story well, but it is not clear whether or not it was presented properly. I was new to this play so I have never seen a script and have not had any previous experience with it. As far as I know, the plot of the story was conveyed properly, but it might could have been more clear at times. The performance itself was very different than any other play I have seen recently. I thought some of the strategies with the blocking/ lighting was very cool and interesting, but at times I was easily distracted. For example in that first office scene, I was almost too overwhelmed by everything going on at once, I am not sure I caught what was supposed to happen. Another example would be their use of flashlights for some of the lighting; I think this was a cool idea, but I had a hard time following it and thought it was distracting to the plot. The subject matter of this play was very intriguing to me. I have always loved the twenties and murder stories, so this plot line was right up my alley (no pun intended) ; however, I think the story was not as breathtaking as I expected it to be. While still having some moments of intensity and incredible acting, the plot of the play was intended to be a lot more severe. So, to be clear, I think the author told her story because I left understanding fully what happened, but there’s a possibility that it could have been played better. In my opinion, the subject matter of Machinal was not very worthwhile. Being completely honest, I enjoyed it as a lover of theatre, but I am not sure there was a specific notion that was supposed to have come from the performance. I never caught a very huge message that Treadwell was trying to get across, and so it was difficult for me to appreciate that. I think it definitely is an accurate representation of the twenties and the societal expectations and norms of that time, so in that sense it was worthwhile. Another way, I could see it as worthwhile is a display of the importance and effect of relationships on other relationships. For example, Helen never had a great relationship with her mom. She then goes off and marries a man she does not love and has a child of her own that she does not truly love. Through purposeful blocking, interactions with each other, and very definite facial expressions, the cast of Machinal kept the audience aware of the plot for the majority of the performance. However, nothing made me cry or get excited or feel any truly strong emotions. For example, I feel like I should have been so much more uncomfortable during any scenes with Helen and her husband that she is supposed to hate. I think the actors kept us in the know but never moved us to a point that we wanted the play to turn out a specific way. I am shocked at the underwhelmed sensation that came from the actors themselves because this play is so intense and dramatic. I wish they had done more with specific body movements and stronger emotions. This production was definitely imaginative. The lighting was simple, the costumes were minimalistic, and the set was black boxes. As I have said several times earlier, I think that this was too simplistic for this play. I thought the set and costumes needed to have more detail in order to truly bring this 20’s murder story to life. This may have been the reason for the underwhelmed feeling from the performance. The biggest example of this for me was the lighting along with all of the dialogue, and dance. It was too much to handle along with trying to understand the plot, and I was distracted quite a bit. One of these overdone scenes was the scene in which Helen meets her lover in the bar. I could not help but be distracted by everything else going on, and I missed a lot of that scene between Helen and her lover. The audience was pretty indifferent to the show from what I heard. The audience was pretty subdued for the majority of the performance, so while I did not hear anyone saying that they specifically disliked the show, it was not hard to tell they were not enjoying it as much as usual. Because there was no intermission, I only really got to interact with the audience members after the show, and no one seemed to say much of anything about the show. We all seemed to not have loved, but were ready to be done with it. I probably would not have reccomended this particular production to many people; however, I do realize that this production was very stylized in the way it was performed and that may have appealed to others. Being a person who loves theatre and who has been a part of the theatre community since early childhood, I am very accustomed to advertising a show around town and urging people to support the theater. Even if I did not love a specific show, I still encourage people to go see them because I never know how another person might feel about a performance, and also because I know the arts are always in need of support from the community. My interest in a certain play would definitely be a reason that I would look into other works by that same author. I have always been involved in the performing arts, so I am constantly looking for something new to read or see if it has to do with theater.