Post submitted by Laris

I once lived with a cat named Gray and White TV Set. The funny thing is I can’t remember much about her, except her name. Sort of like the cat in Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines, the new comedy by Rainpan 43 (featuring, as we headlined last week, members of the Pig Iron Theatre Company). I saw it this weekend and I know there was a cat in there, but I’m not sure if it lived, died, or just fell asleep after a session with the hugely complicated petting machine devised by the play’s inventors / brothers / roommates.

But did the cat matter at all? Did the machines? The truth, the play seemed to assert, is we just don’t have any time in our lives anymore. We’re too occupied, never satisfied, often scared and looking over our shoulders too much. We try to create things to make our lives easier and safer through technology and invention. But how necessary is it? Do computers really make us more productive? Does surveilance (MAKE US SAFER?) Are we forgetting what really matters? Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines is all this and more.

The play is a look into the world of three individuals oddly just like you, me, her, and him. Granted, they’re crazy, but they’re also compassionate, and they deal with daily trivialities and severe emotional dilemmas just like the rest of us. Watching the hour-long performance made me laugh, look on in amazement, and contemplate. Like the machines themselves, you can try to put the pieces together, but you really can’t - in the end, it’s a puzzle with no solution. The reward is a slight outcome that defies you to consider what you just watched even further - not unlike the creations strewn across the stage.

Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines Machines is rewarding, funny and close to home. See it and bring a friend, lover, or enemy.

Now through June 17

Alter(ed) Garage
818 Alter St, Philadelphia, PA 19147
(215) 531-3185
http://www.machinesmachinesmachines.com