Joseph Alessi in Adding Machine at the Finborough Theatre, London. Picture: Alex Brenner
Adding Machine continues at the Finborough Theatre, London until 22 October.
Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Based on the highly expressionistic 1923 play by Elmer Rice (1892-1967), Adding Machine: A Musical is an intense, heady roller-coaster ride through the life, death, afterlife and rebirth of a tragic anti-hero everyman named Mr Zero. Composed in 2007 by Joshua Schmidt, with a libretto by Schmidt and Jason Loewith, its themes of alienation, corporate greed, exploitation and redundancy are as pertinent and as biting today as they were 90-odd years ago.
The 95-minute one-act show at the Finborough – the UK premiere – invites us to spend a life in the day of the dead-eyed Mr Zero (the perfectly cast Joseph Alessi) as he endures a screeching harridan of a wife (a superb Kate Milner-Evans) and his mundane – yet reassuringly analgesic – job adding up figures for his anonymous company. After 25 years labouring as a human computer, his expectations of a promotion are dashed when he’s replaced by an adding machine, which unhinges him and drives him to do something unspeakable with a letter spike.
To say any more would be to deprive you of the surprises that follow, suffice it to say that his situation doesn’t really get any better, even if for a brief moment things look like they might be on the up for our anti-hero.
For all his deadpan, static indifference as Mr Zero, Alessi is strangely compelling, creating an anti-hero who’s somewhere between Nineteen Eighty-Four’s Winston Smith and Brazil’s Sam Lowry. And when he finally gets to sing, he’s got a lovely voice.
Opposite him as the nagging wife is Milner-Evans, whose opening aria, ‘Something to Be Proud of’, is one of the most intense five minutes I’ve heard sung on stage – relentless, comical and characterful. Wonderful! They have a gentler, more touching scene towards the middle of the piece – rhapsodising about ham and eggs, of all things – although it’s a short-lived respite.
Supporting these two are a quality company – Sue Appleby, Edd Campbell Bird, James Dinsmore, Joanna Kirkland, George Rae and Helen Walsh – all of whom turn in gleamingly polished performances. Campbell Bird makes a particularly memorable impression as a creepy matricidal character named Shrdlu, and Walsh is in very strong voice, adding from the sidelines a rich and powerful colour to the ensemble singing. Kirkland, too, is a breath of fresh air as Zero’s secret admirer Daisy Dorothea Devore, and her ‘I’d Rather Watch You’ is a sweet, tender moment in a maelstrom of madness.
Director Josh Seymour makes the most of the material and keeps the show throbbing along, flowing efficiently from scene to scene. The intimacy of the Finborough places you right in the midst of the action, and it really does feel like you’re sharing in Mr Zero’s dizzying visions. Frankie Bradshaw’s (seemingly) minimalist design, combined with Neill Brinkworth’s evocative lighting, creates a dark, limbo-like dystopia until, about two-thirds of the way through, the acid kicks in and things get really trippy: a genuine coup de théâtre – or at least a coup de théâtre de pub.
The equally trippy music is provided by the three-man team of musical director Ben Ferguson on the piano, Tristan Butler on percussion and Hamish Brown on synth. It’s a seriously complex score, and this trio – wired up to make all manner of weird and wonderful sounds – tackle it all admirably. So do the cast members, who must have had sleepless nights from the tortuous timings.
Adding Machine is not your traditional musical. Indeed, it would be better described as a contemporary chamber opera with musical theatre influences. Schmidt’s suitably robotic and percussive score recalls the repetitious minimalism of Steve Reich, John Adams and Philip Glass, with touches of Kurt Weill and German electronica and the occasional ‘slipping glimpse’ of Kander and Ebb. As a fan of Glass’ Einstein on the Beach – which this show often reminded me of – I loved it and was spellbound throughout.
It won’t be everyone’s idea of a jolly night at the theatre, though. (As one of the cast members said to me on the way out: “It’s not Mamma Mia!” That’s for sure!) You won’t leave the Finborough humming the tunes, but the overall experience – a dark, nightmarish sensory overload – will stay with you long after you’ve got home. Bravo to artistic director Neil McPherson for bringing it to life in London.
Craig Glenday
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