Word: playing
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...hint that Machinal is "based on the true story of the first woman to be electrocuted in the state of New York," the production can emerge solely as the external projection of a mind growing progressively more detached from reality. The leap that Machinal fails to translate throughout the play is that this insane mind belongs to the young woman eventually executed, for the play misses a coherent plot and can be misinterpreted as social commentary about the alienation of marriage...
...this sterility, the play opens as dark lighting and odd music fade into a sharply lit, sanitary office. The dialogue is reminiscent of a machine, and the office becomes a highly functional organism. The Filing Clerk (Randy Gomes '02) and the Adding Clerk (Eddie Montoya '02) do a fabulous job of doubling dialogue and repeating each other with static variations. Coupled with the aimless chatter of the Stenographer (Kate Agresta '02) and the Telephone Girl (Thandi Parris '01), an environment of alienation is complete. Everything about this world is artificial, including the commotion when Helen (Erica Rabbit '00) enters...
...Here, the first of the play's many ambiguities arises--if one is not a careful observer, one can easily be caught believing the play is a feminist re-creation of a sexual harassment suit, especially as the Boss (Scott Gunn '01) speaks of salary raises. Yet the necessity to undermine the play's ambiguities recedes as the experimental nature of the production takes hold...
...scenes in the first act follow with an almost anticipated sense of fatality. Agresta, now as Helen's mother, manages to exploit the tension of the production; she must emote, yet her dialogue must appear to be a sardonic condemnation of maternal care. A genuine frustration at the play's emotional detachment resonates with the audience as the mother forces her daughter to eat a potato. However, the play becomes too rapidly melodramatic too early, as the sense that the characters are mocking themselves undermines the growing emotional tension in the play...
...second act is more convincingly mechanical, especially the final scenes of the play. Helen eventually kills her husband, as the audience anticipates, and the court scene that ensues is fabulously orchestrated. Gunn demonstrates considerable talent in controlling his body. As robot-husband, he is eerily mechanical and almost reminiscent of an Edward Scissorhands figure. Parris and Agresta, both lawyers, reflect the insensitivity and detachment that the law has for human emotion. The bright lighting illustrates a sense of barrenness, and the media, Montoya and Gomes, again engage in their convincing double dialogue and contribute to the scene's mechanical intention...