Sabrina Choi

'Machinal' is a revolutionary expressionist drama written by a journalist named Sophie Treadwell in 1928. The story depicts a young woman, Helen, who struggles in her life and in her marriage. Helen’s vulnerability runs counter to the expectations of the world which has made her living under oppression and domination. In each episode, she appears submissive and accepting her situation, yet she has not stopped longing for freedom. The mechanical world has driven Helen crazy and end up murdering her own husband.

The author has created a tough world for the protagonist. Everything in it is very mechanical, boring and maintains a sameness, where people are brainwashed to believe in the same point of view and act like everyone else. Not acting like everyone else will end up being the unusual one.

In my set design, I want to demonstrate a world where everyone is trained to act like someone else, and everyone and everything is physically identical. All of the boxes that comprise the set design are the same not only in size but in detail, with even the windows and doors in each room remaining unchanged throughout the whole play. The square rooms act like an invisible but visible prison that lock everyone inside. Instead of having many furniture elements that need to move during scene transitions, same set of furniture including a table and a chair will remain in each room throughout the play to tell the story. As there is less visible scene change in this boring set design, lighting is the part to focus and work more to help create a more interesting show on top of a plain set design. Different number of rooms will be used in different episodes.