Machinal
Machinal By Sophie Treadwell
Directed by Dr. Julia Listengarten
Starring Brittany Rentschler, Kyle Crowder, Ryan Garcia
UCF Conservatory Theater, Orlando, FL
For a play nearly 100 years old, “Machinal” feels as if it were written just last week, when the fad for jinky camera work in advertising was at its height. “Machinal” follows the internal state of Helen (Rentschler) as she turns a crummy office job into a wealthy but loveless marriage to George (Crowder). The word “stifled” comes up more than once, and both her husband and her mother (Amanda Wansa) are the types that can praise you in one breath, and make you feel like used whale poop in the next. Things improve when she finds a lover (Garcia) who has a past, a way with women, and a burning desire to return to Mexico. Helen wants to follow him, but decides it’s quicker if she bonks hubby rather than hang around for divorce court. The rest – well, read the tabloids.
This creepy, claustrophobic show relies on fascist fashion and a cold industrial sound track to emphasize Helen’s despair. She seeks freedom, but that requires a bit of cash, and all she collects as we go along is more and more baggage. Crowder’s George is a bit pompous and self-absorbed, but he never does anything to Helen that would begin to justify murder. I like the guy myself, and wouldn’t mind a round or two of mini golf with him. Garcia is excellent as The Lover – he never appears cheap or sleazy, but genuinely caring and genuinely uninterested in commitment. Rentschler’s Helen isn’t exactly sexy, but attractive enough if you focus on her hands and try to ignore her low self esteem. Her world is narrow, but the speakeasy scene broadens her and us. It holds one of the funnier performances where Andrew Clateman plays a man trying to pick up a boy in a speakeasy with a florid description of the joys of Amontillado. That last sip IS the sweetest, right?
There’s a rather elaborate set of notes from the director in the program for “Machinal.” While the director’s interpretation offers useful insight, I think the essence of the show is more straightforward: People become trapped in life, and lacking the heroic vigor to change while change is possible, the slide into lives of quite desperation. And then some of them go a step too far…
“Machinal” is a meaty, thought provoking drama that probably isn’t a great first date show. Save it for that all important LAST date.
For more information on UCF Conservatory Theatre, visit http://www.theatre.ucf.edu</a>
