March 26–29
The headline-grabbing murderess is as ’20s as gin joints and jazz, but strip away the spectacle and there’s human tragedy beneath. Presented by Moravian College’s theatre department this month, Machinal charts a dark ride through 1920s life for one young woman as she progresses from innocence to total implosion.
“Machinal was written in 1928 and based on the murder trial of Ruth Snyder in 1927,” says Corinne Philbin, whose capstone project is to direct this piece. She chose it because the Expressionist style of the play is open for broad interpretation, as are the lead character’s motivations. Ruth Snyder was famously photographed on the electric chair for the murder of her husband, and in Machinal, named for the inexorable, unthinking pressures of society, the audience has the scope to weigh whether a similar young woman is villain, victim or both.
“The play doesn’t move in traditional scenes,” says Philbin. “It breaks her life into snapshots of the roads she takes that lead her to do what she does. All the characters represent emotions or elements of society. The dialogue is very rhythmic, very repetitive.” Within this almost poetic structure, family, work and marriage all seem to exert unbearable pressures until the young woman is pushed to try to break out of the machine.
With abstract set design, Philbin’s team gives evocative impressions of the young woman’s mood and mental state, drawing the audience into her experience. “We aim to create a really immersive experience,” she says. “I want them to feel they’re in her shoes.”
With a century elapsed, a lot has changed in modern society, but we still see misfits caught in the gears to calamitous effect. Step into the psyche of a woman frantic to break free in Machinal.
$15; seniors: $10; students: pay what you will | Thurs.–Sat.: 8 p.m.; Sun.: 2 p.m. | Arena Theatre | Moravian College | 1200 Main St., Bethlehem | 610.861.1320 | moravian.edu