If Elmer Rice were writing plays today, he would probably take on the pernicious effects of globalism as applied to the little guy. Writing in 1923, Rice's metaphor for negative changes that new technology brings was the adding machine. In Jonathan Silver's adaptation of The Adding Machine, Mr. Zero (Paul Marcarelli) has been slaving away at a department store for ten years doing exactly the same job: adding sales receipts by hand. Precisely on his anniversary day, his boss (Joshua Dickens) fires him. The adding machine has made his job downgradable so that an untrained high school girl can replace him. Zero's response is the one that would cross everyone's mind in such circumstances: he kills his boss. Justice is swift and predictable, and soon his loquacious wife Mrs. Zero (Cynthia Carrol) brings his last meal on earth. This time around, anyway.
Newly buried in the local cemetery, he reconnoiters with Shrdlu (mother-killer Dan da Silva), who becomes Virgil to Zero's Dante for the journey to the afterlife. Arriving at the Elysian Fields, Zero still hasn't met his punishment but instead chances upon his office assistant Daisy Devore (recent suicide Jessamyn Blakeslee). Prudishly, they send Shrdlu off for a walk while the two confess their mutual erotic feelings that circumstances prevented them from saying out loud. Zero's tortured soul begins to feel restless, and he is off for his next life on earth. In a touch of irony, none other than an unrecognizably glamorous Mrs. Zero dispatches him back to the sea of humanity to be reborn.
Rice's story conveys social and personal truths with humor. Mrs. Zero throws off hilarious observations on her life as a housewife and their friends while henpecked Zero endures all in silence. The cleverest scene has Zero and Daisy voicing their illicit desires (modest by today's standards) for each other as asides while adding sales slips. Rice's crypto-Buddhist continual rebirth of souls might be read as a comment on unchangeable social structures that condemn us to toil away at our jobs with no hope of relief. Even if we lead exemplary lives (Zero never had a sick day), that can't save us from our personal fates. Silver's adaptation removes the Zeros' group of friends and the trial scene in the Rice original. The miracle of double casting further reduces the complement of actors to five. Marcarelli uses Marx-Brothers-type eye movements to comic effect. Carrol's complete identification with crabby Mrs. Zero makes her transformation in the final scene all the more remarkable. Dickens carefully differentiates his four characters. Blakeslee sports a fine old-time New York accent as Daisy and an equally-good Irish one as Judy, the floozy on which Mrs. Zero unleashes the morals police. Da Silva gives the most polished presentation of all as the knowledgeable mother-killer, Shrdlu. The production is spare but effective, with a Stickley-era feel to the narrow table and matching chairs for the indoor scenes, superbly lit by Michele Disco. Daphne Javitch's well-chosen costumes give period feel without fussiness.
The main problem with this production is directorial. Silver allows a talented cast to turn Rice's finely-honed lines and lively characters into a dull affair. Even so, The Adding Machine has been among the hottest tickets in New York International Fringe Festival 2001, and the production seems destined to reopen sooner rather than later.
Opened:
August 16, 2001
Ended:
August 26, 2001
Country:
USA
State:
New York
City:
New York
Company/Producers:
Mobius Group Productions as part of NY International Fringe Festival
Theater Type:
off-off-Broadway
Theater:
14th Street Theater
Theater Address:
344 East 14 Street
Phone:
212-420-8877
Running Time:
90 min
Genre:
satire
Director:
Jonathan Silver
Review:
Cast:
Cynthia Carrol (Mrs. Zero), Paul Marcarelli (Mr. Zero), Jessamyn Blakeslee (Daisy), Joshua Dickens (The Boss), Dan da Silva (Shrdlu).
Technical:
Adaptation: Jonathan Silver; Lights: Michele Disco; Sound: Stefan Jacobs; Costumes: Daphne Javitch; SM: Kara Bain; Graphics: Joshua Dickens, Rick Gradone; Asst. SM: Karen Benelli; PR: Spin Cycle.
Other Critics:
NYTIMES DJR Bruckner -
Critic:
David Lipfert
Date Reviewed:
August 2001
