Machinal Reviews
The New York Times- Recommended
"...A desperate life blazes amid devouring shadows in the ¦intensely stylish revival of Machinal, Sophie Treadwell's fascinating play from 1928 ¦it's a rare and disturbing beauty. Es Devlin's revolving, scene-stealing set, which portrays a juggernaut of doom ¦that flattens all in its path ¦Ms. Hall's emotionally transparent performance is never overwhelmed by what surrounds it. It's most of the supporting cast who are the casualties here, in ways that I think dilute the hypnotic cadences and potential impact of Treadwell's drama. The same forbidding quality should also be evident in how the other characters talk and move, and it's here that this Machinal falls short. The ensemble acting is so diffuse and varied that scenes that should be achingly suspenseful, like the climactic trial, often sag. That slackness has the unfortunate side effect of making Ms. Hall's character seem less a sensitive victim of a brute society than of her own mental illness."
NY Daily News- Recommended
"...Treadwell's play is stylish but slight. It does, however, provide compelling evidence for the gifts of British director Lyndsey Turner, whose New York debut demands you sit bolt upright and take notice. To create the mood of a woman trapped, Turner and her ace design team place her inside a rotating box that morphs with each scene. Purring with sleekly elegant beauty, the physical staging is the star here. What follows is illogical plotting. Machinal doesn't elicit strong reaction but it's well served by the world and well-oiled machine created by Turner."
Hollywood Reporter- Highly Recommended
"...A difficult play to warm to that's nonetheless an intriguing theatrical curio, Machinal also represents an audacious choice for Roundabout Theatre Company ¦it's hard to imagine a more focused production of this rarely seen work. Staged...by British director Lyndsey Turner with uncompromising rigor...The striking visuals of Devlin's sets are deepened by Jane Cox's shadowy, cinematic lighting effects, by the subdued color palette of Michael Krass' costumes, and by a murky soundscape designed by Matt Tierney that incorporates composer Matthew Herbert's unsettling score. The combined effect is dour but often darkly beautiful. Even at 95 minutes, the play becomes somewhat punishing ¦This is a tough play with an intensity that doesn't let up, and the actors all respond to it with full-force commitment...it's Hall who rivets attention, holding nothing back in her tortured portrayal of this everywoman's dehumanizing downward spiral as she's failed by her own survival skills and by everyone around her. Machinal remains perhaps too defined by theatrical artifice and pre-feminist theory to be as shattering as the events it depicts, but it merits attention as a bold excursion beyond standard Broadway fare."
Vulture- Highly Recommended
"...Though Sophie Treadwell didn't call for it in the text, the superb Roundabout revival of her 1928 play Machinal begins, quite fittingly, with a machine. The design, by Es Devlin, brilliantly lit by Jane Cox, is apt not only because it visually organizes the sprawling story that follows ¦Indeed, the play is so rigorously brutal and swift it almost gets to the end before you realize that the expressionism is a bit of a smoke screen, the alterations to the Snyder story a bit of a dodge. Happily, the Roundabout, which has been steadily upgrading its classic offerings in terms of both choice and execution, gives it the top-drawer mounting it deserves. 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. She's also elicited compelling performances from the large supporting cast, and mustered all the technical elements into a comprehensible if resolutely mysterious whole."
NY1- Highly Recommended
"...It's a remarkable work, both for its compassionate view of a woman victimized by society and the expressionistic treatment, aided by a phenomenal production that renders the protagonist's life unrelentingly bleak. Director Lyndsey Turner's uncompromising vision presents a harrowing portrait of a woman smothered by the constricts of gender and convention. Designed brilliantly with stark lighting and a massive rotating structure featuring complete set pieces, the picture is complete. The large cast is in top form, with Suzanne Bertish as the mother, Michael Cumpsty, the husband, and Morgan Spector, the lover, standing out. But Rebecca Hall has the toughest job as the nondescript murderess. Resisting the urge to soften her, Hall manages an honest, wrenching portrayal of a woman you'd be very hard pressed to call a friend. "Machinal" is not for the faint of heart. But if you're up for an intense theatrical experience, this one's a first-class punch to the gut."
Variety- Highly Recommended
"...Helmer Lyndsey Turner's stunning production creates an appropriately bleak environment for this dark drama ¦Under Turner's masterful staging, the opening scenes provide a bone-chilling perspective on the life of the unnamed Young Woman played with emotional delicacy by Hall. But it isn't until the final scenes of the play, when the Woman is convicted of homicide and solemnly escorted to the electric chair for killing her husband, that the playwright (or, more accurately, the director) succeeds in conveying the horror of her situation."
USA Today- Recommended
"...Yet this stark new staging ¦forces us and its cast, rigorously directed by Lyndsey Turner to confront Machinal's own limitations. From the opening subway segment (Turner's addition) on, we get a keen sense of how Helen, played by Rebecca Hall in her Broadway debut, feels smothered by everything and everyone around her. But it must be said that Hall's Helen is as frustrating as any of them. An accomplished stage actress with acclaimed British productions of Shakespeare and Shaw under her belt, the leading lady seems stumped by her character's exaggerated inability to articulate her unhappiness beyond vague yearnings for freedom. By the time Machinal runs its course, theatergoers may feel as if they're the ones who have been beaten into submission, by an anti-heroine who inspires dark fascination but little empathy."
New York Post- Highly Recommended
"...One of the most thrilling shows on Broadway is about a woman who kills her husband in cold blood. Sophie Treadwell's Machinal isn't a sexy musical but an obscure drama ¦All told, it's a tough sell, but director Lyndsey Turner and her star, Rebecca Hall ¦have made it a must-see...Es Devlin's set makes fantastic use of a large turntable ¦Jane Cox's expressionistic lighting and Matt Tierney's inventive sound design help create a suffocating atmosphere. Machinal is a vivid, bracing portrait of a woman pushed to the edge, but it doesn't involve any weepy psychologizing. The dialogue is highly stylized and the sophisticated-looking production follows suit, a shocker coming from the usually conservative Roundabout. What makes the show so fascinating is the contrast between its cerebral approach and Hall's compassionate performance. In her Broadway debut, the English actress effortlessly navigates stream-of-consciousness monologues while helping us relate to this opaque character."
Entertainment Weekly- Recommended
"... ¦ Machinal now receiving a beautifully well-appointed Broadway revival starring the superb Rebecca Hall and an even-more-superb rotating set is still a bit bold ¦Unfortunately, Machinal isn't consistently intriguing or the tiniest bit emotionally involving. Aesthetically, it's quite an achievement. Director Lyndsey Turner, with the ample assistance of scenic designer Es Devlin and choreographer Sam Pinkleton, paints incredible onstage portraits ¦Hall, a British actress who's making her Broadway debut, is spectacular in a near-impossible role. She maintains an astonishing deadness in her eyes throughout the entire evening, save one scene: when she's with her lover (Morgan Spector). Then they light up like firecrackers. That's also the most loosely structured, conventional exchange in Machinal, and the whiplash-inducing return to her character's unreal world is exasperatingly unfulfilling."
Newsday- Highly Recommended
"...Describing "Machinal" as ahead of its time is just the tip of the revelations in Sophie Treadwell's 1928 expressionist stunner. This little-known adventure in psychological, sociological and stylistic boundary-pushing ¦has been given a dazzling, daring revival ¦The lavish yet beautifully stark production reintroduces Treadwell...and introduces to Broadway the provocative British director Lyndsey Turner and gifted, courageous actress Rebecca Hall. In just 95 minutes, Treadwell takes us into the dehumanizing world of the machine age and into the desperately limited life of a sensitive, ordinary woman. All this happens on Es Devlin's extraordinary set-a rectangle of corrugated, prison-brown rooms on a turntable. Costumes, by Michael Krass, capture the dark, pulpy allure of the era. The lights, by Jane Cox, are almost a separate character, moving shafts that seem to have escaped from the bottom of the window shade that, remarkably, keeps Treadwell's doomed Everywoman from unattainable freedom."
amNY- Highly Recommended
"...Sophie Treadwell's rarely-seen, Expressionist 1928 drama Machinal is the rare play that, in spite of being artistically significant and culturally relevant, has not been seen on Broadway since its premiere almost a century ago. Lyndsey Turner's extraordinary production makes for an absolutely stirring 90 minutes of theater. It powerfully captures the play's heightened theatricality and terrifying aura, utilizing a sleek, box-shaped set that swiftly rotates back and forth to reveal new scenes. The cast is unusually large, allowing the depiction of a stifling, uncaring crowd of strangers inducing claustrophobia. English actress Rebecca Hall ¦delivers the intense, vulnerable and haunting performance that her demanding role requires."
Wall Street Journal- Recommended
"...[Machinal is] ¦a quirky, sometimes melodramatic and expressionist scream from the past that somehow still can move you. [Rebecca] Hall ¦uses her wide, soulful eyes to terrific effect, telegraphing her inexorable 95-minute march to ultimate tragedy. Set designer Es Devlin has created a massive revolving, wood-paneled box that reveals more-than-possible adaptations over nine scenes ¦The effect is marvelous, especially when wed with lighting designer Jane Cox's unsettling brightness and shadows as well as harsh bands of light, and Matt Tierney's soundscape that includes mechanical thumps and engine noises. "Machinal" is by no means perfect or smooth. Not for everyone, it's a moody, jarring meditation on the modern world that's a critique of capitalism, mechanization and male-dominated power. For 86, it looks pretty, weirdly good."
NBC New York- Somewhat Recommended
"...The action in the Roundabout's lavishly produced, but frustrating revival of Sophie Treadwell's Machinal takes place in a rectangular room with thick, ash-hued walls ¦Ultimately, though, Hall's Helen doesn't earn our affection, so her inevitable death never feels like the injustice we wish it did. The other difficulty with Machinal is the dialogue, delivered in the Expressionist style of the time as prescribed in Treadwell's notes. What we get is rapid-fire staccato that makes every line sound like it's Morse code... It's grating, and not at all natural, though we are hearing it as the playwright intended. Machinal is a tough piece of theater. How you ultimately view Machinal depends enormously on your sympathy for Helen and your ability to empathize with her actions. I just didn't like Helen very much, so her death never felt like a terrible loss."
Time Out New York- Highly Recommended
"...And yet this sensually shocking and impeccably acted production a high point in my years attending the Roundabout feels stingingly fresh and provocative. Treadwell scripts her nine scenes with outrageous expressionistic flair ¦The language of Machinal is clipped and barbed; it drains your blood to replace it with engine oil. We reviewers ¦often neglect design, as if we're reviewing radio drama. But English director Lyndsey Turner has assembled an amazing team. This is one of the best-looking and -sounding shows you may see all year. But the stage effects wouldn't count for much if the cast were unsure or all on different pages. And the actors, under Turner's pitch-perfect guidance, rise to the challenge of playing sharp-etched grotesques. Hall may be the star of the show and in her trembling, panicked intensity she is fantastic but all the gears are turning. The Roundabout has been on a good streak ¦Machinal takes the biggest risks, and has the greatest payoff. If you care about American theater particularly its experimental heritage go now."
The Wrap- Highly Recommended
"...This dazzling Roundabout Theater production...is notable for giving Rebecca Hall her stunning Broadway debut and proving that Machinal is an arresting and not some old chestnut that deserves to be cracked open only once every century. It helps, too, that director Lyndsey Turner (another Broadway deb) and her design team (Es Devlin, Michael Krass, Jane Cox, Matt Tierney) have choreographed this story, based on a real-life case of a woman who murdered her husband, as if it were a very modern atonal opera. Treadwell doesn't so much explain her heroine's behavior, rather she gives us a quick 90-minute glimpse into her brain. It's fascinating. While Turner loses some of that dissonance by providing dialogue-less segues that bridge the gaps, it's never less than dazzling to watch this fluid parade on Devlin's revolving set."
Cititour.com- Highly Recommended
"......the power of the Lyndsey Turner's breathtaking production of Sophie Treadwell's expressionistic 1928 play, Machinal ¦After 100 minutes watching this bleak, wrenching drama ¦you may need a few minutes to even get up from your seat. That visceral reaction is due in large part to the incredible, award-worthy performance of British actress Rebecca Hall in the central role of Helen ¦If the production does falter slightly, it's when Turner amps up the proceedings a bit too much in the show's courtroom sequence ¦But the aftermath of the trial, as Helen awaits her fate in jail, is both moving and harrowing, and Hall's emotional vulnerability in this final segment is beyond stunning. The director also deserves major kudos for her remarkably inventive use of Es Devlin's constantly revolving, continually changing set, and for her keen eye for creating evocative visual tableaux utilizing the large ensemble. In a spring Broadway season that is about to be dominated by musicals, Machinal is a cold, wintry blast of air "yet one that turns out to be remarkably refreshing."
NewYorkTheater.me- Highly Recommended
"...Machinal, now opened in a stunning ¦is the first Broadway revival of Sophie Treadwell's haunting 1928 play ¦Machinal means machine-like, and director Lyndsey Turner has taken the title to heart, with startling effect. This may be the best-staged play of the season, certainly one of the most aptly designed. Like many of the moments in Machinal, the scene is eerie, clever, and also nearly a century after it was written too obvious. What was avant-garde then is familiar now, requiring of current-day audiences nearly an exercise in anthropology. The stylized staccato scenes of the play still lend themselves to extraordinary theater in the hands of a good director ¦Good actors help ¦But the leads, like the rest of the 17-member cast playing dozens of roles, are supporting players to the work of the designers Es Devlin (sets), Michael Krass (costumes), lighting (Jane Cox), sound (Matt Tierney.)"
The Independent- Highly Recommended
"...Hall acquits herself admirably ¦Machinal is directed with stylish flair by Lyndsey Turner ¦This time around Es Devlin's revolving rectangular wood-panelled set, which forms the backdrop to Machinal's nine episodic scenes, is dazzlingly effective ¦aided by Jane Cox's dark lighting design...make the case that thanks to technology design can now advance a play's narrative like never before. I'm not convinced Machinal deserves masterpiece status. As the play progresses, its scenes grow longer and more engrossing. It's to Turner's credit that she re-creates Treadwell's soulless, mechanized society in which stifling ideas prevail over people without draining the humanity from her characters. The unravelling of Hall's tormented psyche is gripping. Machinal is a good play that has been greatly staged in New York by a director and leading lady both new to Broadway. Machinal hasn't been seen on Broadway for 86 years but on this evidence it will take considerably less time for Hall and Turner to be invited back here."
Broadway World- Recommended
"... ¦Machinal, now revived in its original form in a striking production directed by Lyndsey Turner, chugs to the furious pace of its own rhythms in telling an expressionistic tale of a woman unable to keep up with the full-speed machinations of male-dominated 20th Century life; an ordinary woman driven to an extraordinary deed by a taste of what life can offer when she allows herself the freedom to live as she pleases. Es Devlin's imposing turntable set, Jane Cox's somber lighting and Michael Krass' low-key period costumes convey an appropriately claustrophobic atmosphere. In the midst of the jazz age, where women were said to be making great strides toward equality, Machinal's bleak picture of American womanhood must have seemed a shock of realism to playgoers. Nearly a century later, the shock may be the play's continued relevance."