Sio Tong Lai

Machinal is a play that tells the story of an early 20th century woman’s life in a series of episodes. My initial impression on this play was the “systematic” or “designed” world the young woman Helen, was living in. When I looked more closely, my focus was directed to the change of Helen’s mind and thoughts through the play. Although Helen is a strong-minded person who knows what she wants, audience can notice that the choices that she can make in her life is limited, which tells the fact that women in that society are hard for not being a periphery in a man-dominated world.

The set design is assigned in a contemporary period, aiming to state that although the story is written in 1928, it is still happening at present, and maybe continuously in the future.

A rotational floor plate separates the stage floor into two different spaces, with a corridor in between. This proposal works perfectly for plays with a number of location-changing scene, such as Machinal. The 11x5 double grid wall design conceals impressing possible ideas to be explored. In my version, the walls are operated horizontally, vertically, and in a tilted angle.