In 1928, at the height of German-inspired theatrical Expressionism, Machinal debuted in New York to acclaim as a fine example of its type, heightened. The idea behind it was to present an abstract of life in a given situation or environment.
Not pure as a theatrical style, it often blended with Surrealism, Symbolism, Romanticism, along with Cubism or Constructivism in use of stage space, and sometimes Realism in acting. In Sophie Treadwell's script, Expressionistic elements include the generalized setting of A City, and characters' names that are not of individuals but labels.
Young Woman (Kim Hausler) is at the center of the play, inspired by the recent execution, then an extremely unusual punishment for a woman, of a housewife who'd murdered her husband. Husband is Danny Jones' role here (though he's also referred to as Jones in the program, the only one to be given an actual name). Other "characters" are referred to by their relationships to the "heroine" or by their occupations.
With a pitiful, cold Mother relying on her for support, Treadwell's Young Woman felt bound to, and oppressed by, her unrewarding job. She suffered in her office, a smaller version of the external noisy urban inferno. She typified the Expressionistic view of a human being subverted by the "machine" of her modern life. Educational and career opportunities were nil. Marriage, though accessible and highly touted, proved no escape. She wasneither inclined to nor fit for motherhood. She became a psychological mess. Trapped.
A tryst with a Young Man, given to short flings in between sojourns in Mexico, gave her a taste of freedom and romance--often extolled by Expressonistic standards. Both led her to fatal actions and condemnation, which the "ism" would see as the punishment by a society that repressed her.
Under Dmitry Troyanovsky's direction for FSU/Asolo Conservatory, Treadwell's play retains some of the abovementioned elements, but it could hardly be considered, as it was in its time, a pioneering feminist work. He presents Young Woman as a person who is isolated from all but duty and appears to be mentally ill. For her murder trial, he has even cast as Lawyer for Prosecution a slick young black woman, highly unlikely to have attained such a position in Treadwell's day.
In fact, Troyanovsky has removed the play from its time, feeling the atmosphere "dated" and style not relevant today for a society that is, however, also "on the verge of apocalypse." So Young Woman is caught in a web of silence, not the cacophony of urban machines, since her office mates answer phones or cables via head sets, not buzzing switchboards, and use silent laptops instead of clanking typewriters.
What designer and theater historian Mordecai Gorelik described as
Expressionism's environmental hysteria is shown by bright lights and by human touch being mostly photographed. The set on a bare stage is a Constructivist-style semi-permanent huge white wall. It is a backdrop, a screen for projections designating various changes of scenes or their topics as well as close-ups of utterances by Young Woman.
Unfortunately, attention is directed to what her lips say (as well as to imperfect upper front teeth) instead of to the action going on in front of the projection, which it should illuminate. (With red hair and looks like Julianne Moore, Kim Hausler has to work hard to appear vulnerable, but usually she seems effortlessly to play spaced out or clueless.)
The wall also acts as a panel moved to accommodate the comings from and goings to scenes by figures such as Bartender, Woman in Bar, Reporter, Nurse, Doctor. Simple props set up a bar, hospital, court room, place of execution.
Props are mostly realistic, but a plastic doll placed on a floor represents Young Woman's baby. Crudely meant to represent her indifference to it, it strikes the audience as funny! So do Husband's ministrations to her, which should be seen (in Danny Jones' rightly doltish rendering) as mechanical fulfillments of his self-referencing, business-manager role. Conversely, he likely also wins sympathy for his misunderstanding of Young Woman's resistance and desire for freedom.
The FSU/Asolo Conservatory students who fill supporting roles obviously gain valuable acting experience. In turn, the production gains from their cohesion. Dane Clark's Young Man, who seems to change when he seduces the heroine, remains attractive though flippant and handles Spanish easily. Linsay Bytof switches competently from the pitiful Mother to a hard-boiled Woman in Bar.
In scenes closest to Treadwell's dynamic intentions, Adam Carpenter and Devereau Chumrau powerfully duke it out as opposing lawyers, and Ken Stellingwerf brings a memorably stern Priest with a confusing religious message to Young Woman before her execution. The sounds of opera as counterpoint to Priest's biblical outpouring are Expressionistic to the core and, if a bit overlong, impressive. These sequences may account for our local paper's critic finding the play "gripping."
Regarding the directorial emphasis, though, for those who know theater history as well as love dramatic literature, Gorelik's words apply: "We may profitably make comparisons between the past and the present; but we have no right to ignore the differences.... A bright idea...becomes soporific if [related] plays themselves do not speak to us of the past." I regret to say people on both sides of me in Asolo's Cook Theater had to wake up at curtain call.
