Tension and physicality in Mark Jackson's 'Machinal'
Posted Fri, 10/10/2008 - 10:58am by Matt Itelson
Mark Jackson, one of the hottest names in Bay Area theatre, returns again to his alma mater to direct "Machinal." The Theatre Arts Department's first main-stage production of the school year plays Oct. 16 – 19 in the Little Theatre.
"Here's a show well-worth beating an unbeaten path for," theatre critic Robert Avila writes in the Oct. 15 edition of the San Francisco Bay Guardian. "Mark Jackson ('Yes, Yes to Moscow') directs a seriously talented cast of students at SF State's College of Creative Arts in the absorbing production."
Theatre critic Chloe Veltman writes: "I came away from the theatre with my head spinning, wondering why "professional" companies rarely produce work as intelligent, emotionally disturbing and fresh as this."
In "Machinal," mounting technological, economic and moral pressures emerge in a mechanized society, creating a burning anxiety nationwide. Something has to give. The play is insipred by the true story of Ruth Snyder, who murdered her husband and later was sent to the electric chair. The intense and physical production makes parallels between 2008 and the 1928 setting of Sophie Treadwell’s expressionist play.
Jackson, named 2007 Best Theatrical Auteur by SF Weekly, is celebrated throughout the Bay Area and beyond, by audiences and critics alike. "Even in a region with many excellent directors, Jackson's smart, intensely physical work stands out," Lisa Drostova wrote in a 2006 article in San Francisco Magazine. "His plays are notable for their electricity and the elegant intelligence of his writing and staging; Jackson draws out the best in his collaborators and then forges their contributions into a coherent and affecting whole."
While in high demand, he enjoys teaching and directing at SF State because he admires the students' scrappiness and hunger — traits which not only remind him of himself when he was an SF State student but which also are key to success in the professional realm. Jackson enjoys difficult material, and wants to give students an opportunity to do something meaty, noting that SF State students "have the energy for it."
Jackson (B.A., '94) directed the premiere of his "Don Juan" adaptation at SF State last semester. Theatre critic Chloe Veltman wrote: "Certainly, if Jackson's bewitching take on the Don Juan legend is anything to go by, I'm going to have to start paying closer attention to what's going on on university campuses from now onwards. I think this 'student' play — which, I ought to add, I saw in preview — is going to stay in my memory far longer than 90 percent of the so-called 'professional' productions I've experienced in recent years."
Photo: Claire Rice
