Machinal – Location, Tickets, Reviews

Posted on January 17, 2014

Roundabout Theatre Company makes an daring choice in reviving Machinal, a seldom-produced 1928 masterpiece by Sophie Treadwell. This dark, haunting drama follows a young woman’s slow descent from the shy neuroses of an isolated youth to the full-on panic that drives her to kill her husband. Through terse, repetitive dialogue, deliberately robotic acting, and a heavy gloom that chokes our heroine in its ever-tightening grip, Machinal is a cruel and unforgiving play about the wrath that can follow a life of loneliness and dashed expectations.

Maxamoo

So yeah, not exactly the brightest thing on Broadway this season. Machinal may sound drab and dour – and, stylistically, it is – but if you like your thrillers on the psychological side, where the tightly-wound tension comes from the subtle tick of tempers ready to burst, then this is definitely one to check out.

See it for the production values alone. Es Devlin has designed a nightmarish, sunless world of harsh angles and endless alleys, one that seems to close in on our heroine with each passing second. As the turntable set transitions between each of the play’s nine scenes, the claustrophobia is palpable, as if there’s no way out. When at her husband’s murder trial, the young woman is asked where she lives, she replies “in prison,” and we believe her.

That young woman, by the way, is played by Rebecca Hall, the English actress of Vicky Christina Barcelona and Iron Man 3 fame. She may be a tad too urbane to completely fit the naive, wilting flower main character, but Hall does a fine job of playing with our emotions, nearly swallowing herself into panic one moment, reaching in vain toward the sudden warmth of a traveling stranger (Morgan Spector) the next. Suzanne Bertish and Michael Cumpsty round out a great supporting cast, who master Treadwell’s admittedly odd dialogue to complete the frame of inhumanity that surrounds Hall’s downward spiral.

Machinal is not for everyone, but even at nearly a hundred years old, it’s one of the freshest things Roundabout has produced in a long time.

Public Opinion

The show hasn’t attracted a lot of attention on social media, attracting mostly theater die-hards and Roundabout subscribers. However, the Twitter buzz has been generally positive, with most comments singling out the stunning design. @matttolbert called it “jaw-dropping”  and @bostonturgy called the 86 year-old play “timely.”

Have you seen Machinal? What did you think? Comment below or tweet to us at @Maxamoo.

Critics’ Reviews

Though some reviewers found it uneven and boring (see: the New York Times in one of its masterful mixed reviews), most found the design, mood and Hall’s performance deeply affecting.

New York Times
Woman Trapped in Modern Times (1920s Edition)

Associated Press
‘Machinal’ Still Kicks Despite Being 86

Entertainment Weekly
“Unfortunately, Machinal isn’t consistently intriguing or the tiniest bit emotionally involving. Aesthetically, it’s quite an achievement.”

Variety
“A stunning production and a compelling central performance can’t make an audience root for the heroine of this 1928 Expressionist play about a stifled life in a mechanized society”

New York Magazine
“The director, Lyndsey Turner, making an exceptional U.S. debut, pulls off the neat trick of realizing a Big Idea without letting it consume the play.”

Hollywood Reporter
A stark opera that’s inseparably of its time and yet quite trenchant in its observation of a woman’s isolation.

TICKETS

$52.00 – $127.00 (click here for tickets)

DATES

Performances through March 2, 2014

LOCATION