Minnesota Fringe Festival 2026: "Machinal"

Day: 10

Show: 36

Title: Machinal

Category: Dance / Drama / Mystery / Physical Theater / Literary adaptation / Political content

By: Combustible Company

Directed by: Renee Hatton

Location: Southern Theater

Summary: A 60-minute adaptation of the 1928 play Machinal, about a woman caught in the machine of life.

Highlights: This is a brutal look at the drudgeries of life, work, parenthood, and marriage, and the limitations of women's choices, written almost a hundred years ago but still very relevant today. I saw Clevername Theatre's production of this play a couple years ago, and this shortened version covers the full story of a woman who marries her boss, and then kills him. In fact, I think one hour of this brutal and absurdist story is enough, it's heavy and dark, but beautifully done. As per usual with Combustible, it's visually stunning, using precise movements to represent the machine of work, with silver hoops and silver metal chairs as set pieces creating a consistent look. A hoop hanging on a trapeze rack is used in a couple of scenes to beautiful effect. They also use music well, with some lovely and haunting a capella moments, and appropriately chosen songs of the period like "O Death" and "Send Me to the 'Lectric Chair." The talented young cast is comprised of U of M students or recent grads, Anna Pladson as the woman with ensemble members Alvaro Araque, Ella Eastman-Kiesow, Ella Hendrickson, Gavin Wells, Lily Jones, Matthew Wilhelm, Michael DiPrima, Nitalia Michelle, and Vincent Strunk. It's a dark and ugly story, beautifully and powerfully told. And although Fringe is over, they have three more performances this weekend at St. Croix Festival Theatre in St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin.

Read all of my Fringe mini-reviews here. 

"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.