REVIEW: 'Machine' at Towson U Adds Up to a Riveting Show

Is it divine intervention or scary coincidence that during the day that I was supposed to review The Adding Machine at Towson University that the entire computer network in my office shut down for 3 hours, causing us to stop work and ponder, "why do we rely so much on technology"?  Well, that very thing went through my mind as events unfolded during the stunning production that opened last weekend.  In the play, poor, hapless working Everyman, Mr. Zero, has spent the last 25 years of his life being the titular device, adding the numbers spewed to him by his colleague Ms. Devore.  On that auspicious anniversary, instead of a raise or promotion, Mr. Zero is summarily dismissed - replaced by a machine.  From there the drama unfolds, and I won't share what happens to our hero, but I will say that life for him is no better at home, in court, in a grave yard, the Elysian Fields or at a life reassignment office.  Suffice it to say, this play, written by Elmer Rice in the mid-twentieth century is gripping and perilous because it is as much cautionary tale and science fiction as it is frightening real life as we know it.

 

What a magnificent way to open a new theatre space, the new black box Studio Theatre in the Center for the Arts at the Towson campus.  The large, comfortable space boasts state of the art lighting, remarkable acoustics (the actors are not miked, and wisely, for it makes you really listen to them), and a huge playing space.  Upon entering the space, the production hits you hard.  The floor is painted to look (and realistically so) like riveted metal, the back wall, a huge metal door, again riveted and also painted to look like circuitry, topped by Metropolis-like guard statues and a clock that, tellingly does not keep time, at least in a conventional way.  It is no surprise that local set design wunderkind, Daniel Ettinger is behind this spellbinding and thought provoking imagery.  Further setting the tone are a creepy set of tableaux - one a sleeping (dead?) man in bed, the other, two metallic automatons, workers with lights on their hard hats, also asleep entangled in what appears to be a desk.  The audience I attended with as absolutely awestruck by the scene, and the play hadn't even started!  This is the don't miss production of the spring.

 

So, who is responsible for the overall concept?  Set designer Ettinger, costumier Georgia Baker, lighting designer Jay Herzog and sound designer Neil McFadden.  Together this team of creative artists has created a terrifying, and sometimes humorous look at the future as run by machine, when man has become more than useless.  It is truly rare to see such a focused, tightly executed concept some completely realized at any level.  In all ways, the design of this production is superb, and of award-winning caliber.  Director Diane Smith-Sadak has done an almost unbelievably excellent job in holding the reins to keep this show tight, meaningful and stunningly executed by a very large cast.  I say unbelievable because I don't think I can conjure the words to adequately describe just how well done this production is.  If all was fair, the entire thing would be taken elsewhere for further production.  It is simply amazing.

 

From the robotic scenic crew, here called Drones (appropriately enough), as much a part of the show as any of the speaking actors, to the leading man, Mr. Zero (R. Alex Kliner) the entire cast moves as one, all cogs in the larger machine that this play, and particularly this production demands.  The metallic skinned, multi-colored ensemble of "numbers" - Mr. One, Mrs. Two, etc. - function as a bold, creepy Greek chorus, presenting types for us to recognize when they are individuals, then melting back into one amorphous blob of humanity when they speak and act as one.  They are a marvel to watch.  In supporting roles, Julia Pickens as Mrs. Zero finds just the right balance between droning, nagging wife, and a woman who has come, resignedly, to grips with her reality, and Erin Elizabeth Billings displays great force and comic panache as the alternately angry, love-struck co-worker of Mr. Zero.  R. Alex Kliner, as Mr. Zero, gives a bravura performance, one likely to be remembered by this critic for years to come.  Every fiber of his being is entrenched in the character.  He is at times a helpless shlub of a man, caught in the comfort of familiarity, realizing too late that by remaining stagnant, he has frozen himself in time.  Other times, he is impulsive, acting, as most of us often fantasize about, on a whim - regardless of consequence.  And as the play comes to its unpredictable, totally believable, and numbingly shocking conclusion, his outrage at a major discovery about the circle of life, and then sheer panic at the realization of the inevitable future he faces, is maddeningly real and deeply affecting.  Character and audience as one realize the future, if not exactly here, is on its way, speeding toward us like a runaway train, while we are tied to the tracks.