"The Adding Machine" by Clevername Theatre at the Hive Collaborative

Clevername Theatre's production of the 1923 play The Adding Machine feels like a sequel of sorts to last year's production of the 1928 play Machinal, or at least a continuation of the theme. Both plays are a little weird and dark, performed in an Expressionist style, are about the mundanity and absurdity of everyday life, and even share some cast and creative team. Where Machinal focused on a woman trapped in societal expectations and the extremes she goes to to escape, The Adding Machine tells the story of a man fired from his boring job of 25 years, also going to extremes to escape, only to find more of the same. Once again, Clevername has taken a hundred-year-old play, performed it in the style it was intended, and made it relevant to today. See it at The Hive Collaborative through June 22.

"Machinal" by Clevername Theatre at the Center for Performing Arts

Machinal: mechanical, done without thinking, from force of habit. Early 20th century playwright Sophie Treadwell uses this word as the title of her her 1928 play about a woman caught in the mechanics of a woman's expected life path and the disastrous results. In Clevername Theatre's new production (my first experience with the play), it feels like it could have been written yesterday instead of almost 100 years ago. It's performed in the German Expressionist style with exaggerated, almost absurd, performances, which is a bit off-putting. But that's intentional, and how the play was written, and it beautifully and harshly exemplifies the experience of this woman. Even if the style feels unfamiliar to audiences used to modern American theater, the themes are resonant with modern life. The show is halfway through its short two-week run, with only three remaining performances at the Center for Performing Arts in Uptown.