FEATURES
Old play explores
themes of today
■Though The Adding Machine’
was first produced in 1923,
it contains contemporary ideas
By John Liebhardt
Oregon Daily Emerald
The CliffsNotes version of the
University Theatre’s production of
“The Adding Machine” is quite
simple.
It is a story of Mr. Zero who tries
to break out of the hell he has creat
ed for himself. On the anniversary
of his 25th year of service at a large
department store, the accountant
Zero learns that he will be laid off
because his company decides to
buy an adding machine.
“Any high school girl can do it,”
he is told by his boss.
Hoping to be called in for a raise
and a promotion, rather than a pink
slip, Mr. Zero goes berserk and kills
his boss, initiating a roller coaster
ride through his trial, prison sen
tence, execution and his life in the
afterworld.
While the story could be pulled
out of today’s headlines, the origi
nal, written by Elmer Rice, was first
produced in 1923. Director Joseph
Gilg said he did not choose the play
for its sensationalism. Rather, he
was more attracted to its universal
critique of alienation in a world of
mass production.
“We feel a lot of contemporary
parallels to this play,” Gilg said,
noting that Oregon still has one of
the highest unemployment rates in
the (United States). “A lot of peo
ple in Oregon are feeling that situa
tion directly.”
But Zero’s predicament tran
scends job woes. He is constantly
under threat at home from his wife,
who attempts to climb the social
ladder, and his co-worker, whom
he may have feelings for but would
rather just yell at.
“Zero kind of lets things happen
to him,” said j. nick dickert, who
plays Zero. Killing his boss was
“probably the first decision he
made in his life.”
Under pressure at home and at
work, Zero attempts to create a
space of his own, mostly in his
mind. While the play darts between
Zero’s dialogue and personal
thoughts, the audience is invited
directly into the character’s thought
process. It’s not a pretty sight. He
dreams about asking the boss for a
raise and asking his co-worker for a
date. He also fantasizes about his
former neighbor, a semi-exhibition
ist whom he called the cops on af
ter Mrs. Zero spotted him gawking.
The bottom line, Gilg said, is
Zero’s high expectations within his
limited scope.
“He worked 25 years, and he felt
that it should get him a little recog
nition, a raise and a promotion,”
Gilg said. “All it got him was unem
ployment.”
The look and feel of “The Adding
Machine” adds to Zero’s predica
ment. The play begins in a cacoph
ony of noise: Feet stamping, hands
clapping, typewriters typing, all to
a techno beat as the 15-member cast
marches onto the stage.
However, it is the stage that truly
sets the look and feel of Zero’s
predicament. The massive set is a
bare-bones structure, angular in all
senses of the word, set in a steely
marble gray that more resembles
scaffolding than a set. Pipes are ex
posed, as are the platform supports.
Two video screens hanging the
stage from above. They are con
stantly tuned to either old movies
or live footage of the play (from two
camera operators who walk the
stage, an “extremely technical” act
said Desmond Hollopeter, one of
the cameramen.)
Calling the set a maze and a rat
Adam Amato Emerald
Lead actor j. nick dickert, ‘Mr. Zero,’ prepares for a rehearsal of ‘The Adding Machine,’ opening Friday and running through April 27.
trap, director Gilg said, “The actors
become insignificant in that stage.”
He noted that the single set serves
as all locations for the eight-act play
and all of the actors are on stage
throughout the production.
To add a bit more punch to the
play, Gilg decided to use the miss
ing fifth scene that was taken out of
the original productions and is thus
very difficult to find. This scene
shows a tour group traveling
through prison to look at “the boss
killer” in his natural environment.
It also shows the court scenes of
Zero’s indictment (in record time)
for the murder. Most interestingly
to Gilg was what he called the only
touching scene between Zero and
his wife, when she came to see him
before his execution.
“Maybe at some level, this rela
tionship had some meaning,” he
said, noting that soon after the
couple begins another fight.
As the play races to the end. Zero
finally finds a peace for himself. If
he can just make it work.
“The Adding Machine” will con
tinue April 12,13, 18 through 20
and 26 through 27 in Robinson
Theatre. Curtain time for all regular
performances is 8 p.m.
E-mail Pulse/features editor John Liebhardt
atjohnliebhardt@dailyemerald.com.
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