The Adding Machine

by Elmer Rice

Drama 14 male, 9 female5 interior scenes and 2 exterior scenesThis constantly interesting play shows in outline the life history and, in its later scenes, the death history of Mr. Zero, a cog in the vast machine of modern business.

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Drama, School, Fiction, Classics, Literature

Paperback

First published January 1, 1929

About the author

Expressionist plays of noted American playwright Elmer Leopold Rice include The Adding Machine (1923) and Street Scene (1929).

He authored novels.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmer_Rice

Reviews

[Mira123 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dieses Theaterstück ist definitiv eines der schrägsten, die ich in meinem bisherigen Leben gelesen habe. Es ist schräger als "Warten auf Godot". Es ist seltsamer als alle Kurzgeschichten von Kafka zusammen. Die Handlung macht Sinn, ja, das schon. Alles folgt logisch aufeinander, alles macht Sinn, aber nicht so wie man das denken würde. Es ist eher in dem Sinne logisch und sinnvoll, wie es das in einem Albtraum wäre. Ja, ich denke das trifft es gut. Dieses ganze Buch erinnerte mich daran, wie mein Gehirn während einem schlechten Traum funktioniert. Die Figuren reagieren entweder viel zu apathisch auf das was um sie herum passiert oder total übertrieben. Meistens war es so, dass die Figuren sehr teilnahmslos auf alles reagiert haben, was mich dazu bringen würde, auszuflippen, und umgekehrt. 

Um was geht es hier? Zero ist unglücklich mit seinem Leben. Seine Frau kritisiert ihn ständig (was echt lange Monologe sind - die würde ich nicht lernen wollen!), er arbeitet seit 25 Jahren in der gleichen Stelle (er muss den lieben langen Tag Zahlen zusammenrechnen, die ihm diktiert werden) und ist auch sonst eigentlich eine ziemliche Null (wie ja auch sein Name schon zeigt). Am 25. Jahrestag in seinem Job wird er endlich von seinem Chef angesprochen - doch statt endlich eine Beförderung samt Gehaltserhöhung zu bekommen, wird er gekündigt. Denn die Firma hat nun endlich eine "Adding Machine", die die Zahlen automatisch zusammenzählt. Also reagiert Zero so, wie man halt reagiert, wenn man überraschend entlassen wird: Er bringt seinen Chef um... Ganz schön viel Frust also, der sich da in Zero angestaut haben muss. Wie es weiter geht, kann ich euch nicht verraten. Auch wenn das ein Klassiker ist, will ich ja nicht spoilern.

Ich fand diesen Text gerade zu Beginn sehr schwierig. Am Anfang des Textes kommt es zu sehr langen Monologen, die Figuren reden aneinander vorbei und vieles machte auf mich auf den ersten Blick keinen Sinn. Ich musste mich erst an diesen Text gewöhnen - genau wie das halt bei den anderen absurden Texten (Stichwort: Kafka) immer der Fall war. Sobald ich dann erst mal an all diese Seltsamheiten gewöhnt war, hat mir die Lektüre eigentlich sogar Spaß gemacht. Allerdings hat das mal die ersten paar Szenen lang gedauert.

Mein Fazit? Super schräges Theaterstück, das es mir zu Beginn wirklich nicht leicht gemacht hat. Sobald ich mich aber an den Text gewöhnt habe, hat mir die Lektüre Spaß gemacht.

[Mohammed Fawzi (BookTuber) · Rating 3 out of 5]

مسرحية من طلائع المسرح التعبيري و المدرسة التعبيرية كما قال فيليب مولر المخرح: تشمل الأسقاط الذاتي ,أي أنها تكشف عن الأفكار المبهمة و المشاعر المكبوتة (للشخصية كما تكشف أشعة -x )
التركيب الداخلي للإشياء معكوساعلي الشكل الخارجي الظاهر للعيان

مسرحية كلاسيكية من المسرح العبثي سوف نفتقد مستر صفر العبد
__________________________________

One of the plays of the absurd school🙄, a distinctive play that is not devoid of spiritual feelings that the slave who remained imprisoned in his body searches for.

[Maisie Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

having an existential crisis

[فاطِمة طه · Rating 1 out of 5]

إنني أفكر.
احذر ألا ينفجر مخك.

تجربتي الأولى مع فن المسرحية، الكتاب يذكرني بفيلم ديزني Soul الحديث عن الروح ما بعد الموت، و كل هذه الأمور البعيدة تمامًا عن ديننا.
" قل الروحُ من أمر ربي."

أحببت الجزء الأول قبل أن يموت السيد صفر، كان عبثيًا بطريقة مضحكة، لكن النص الثاني من الكتاب كما ذكرت فهو شئ ينافي عقيدتي، لذلك كان مزعج بالنسبة لي.

[Dina M. Ezz | دينا محمود عز · Rating 4 out of 5]

People are given numbers according to their social standing. Zero quite literally is a zero. He has no future. His life consists solely of adding numbers at a desk, day in day out, he is the adding machine of the play's title. On his days off he has church and has to suffer endless moaning from his unsympathetic and bored wife. Stabbing his boss after 25 years of unappreciation is the only unpredictable thing he'd ever done, the only time he'd been ruled by his repressed passions
when Zero is told he's to be sent back to Earth to 'do it all again' and has some stark truths about his situation pointed out to him. He is petrified and clings to the table screaming 'Why did you have to tell me ?' His memory is erased and he goes back to being a baby so he can be innocently alienated all over again , i liked it so much

[Annie Roufs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird and funny, but substantial

[Miriam Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think i like plays with dead people in them

[Emma ^ - ^ · Rating 2 out of 5]

The main existentialism plot of this was interesting; I hate capitalism too. But there were problematic parts that stem from the time it was written in (1920s America), which I wasn't a fan of.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was really unique and interesting!

[Radwa · Rating 2 out of 5]

نجمتين للفكرة فقط
الفكرة بديعة
لكن
المسرحية نفسها لا تستحق

[TalkinHorse · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a great play -- but be sure to get an edition with eight acts rather than seven!

When properly rendered, Rice's "The Adding Machine" is a powerful, weird, surreal experience. But be aware that some editions only show seven acts. In the original script, there were eight acts (or "scenes", really), but the original Scene V was cut to streamline the production (in 1923). When they revived the play in 1956, Rice revised and restored Scene V, and this is, in my opinion, the way it should be read. You'll find the complete 8-scene script in Three Plays: The Adding Machine / Street Scene / Dream Girl, and also in some stand-alone editions. But, really, you need to see the play before you read the text, if you possibly can. They filmed a movie version of it in 1969, starring the inimitable Phyllis Diller playing Mrs. Zero. Leonard Maltin described this effort as "flawed but interesting," giving it two and a half stars out of four. Seems that the movie has never been officially issued, but low-quality video files can be found in obscure Internet repositories, apparently transferred from an ancient VHS capture off the air. So keep your eyes open for a dramatic or cinematic revival. Etaoin Shrdlu will thank you!

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

ماشین حساب، یک نمایش نامه ی اکسپرسیونیستی ست که در 1923 نوشته شده. سیری در زندگی آقای صفر، محاکمه و اعدامش، و وقایعی که پس از مرگ بر او می گذرد، وقتی که خواهش ها و تمناهای زندگی اش را بکلی از یاد برده است. آقای صفر که حسابدار یک شرکت بزرگ است، پس از بیست و پنج سال سابقه ی کار، در می یابد که بجای او یک ماشین حساب گذاشته اند (استخدام کرده اند). خشمگین و دردمند، صاحب کارش را می کشد، محاکمه می شود، مقصر شناخته می شود و به دار زده می شود. در دنیای دیگر با نامی دیگر بیدار می شود و تلاش می کند ماشین حسابی بسازد. رییس تازه اش به او می گوید که دارد وقت تلف می کند چرا که قرار است به زمین باز فرستاده شود. آقای صفر دختر جذابی به نام "هوپ" (امید) را تعقیب می کند و... نمایش نامه ای ست جذاب که به فارسی هم ترجمه شده چون به یاد دارم نمایش نامه توسط آقای رکن الدین خسروی یکی دو ماهی برای صحنه تمرین می شد، و بازیگرانی چون محمدعلی کشاورز، جمیله ی شیخی و سعید پورصمیمی در آن نقش داشتند.. اما این که تمرینات به اجرای روی صحنه هم کشید، یا نه، چیزی بخاطر نمی آورم. اغلب آثار المر رایس، حال و هوایی استثنایی دارند. او از نمایش نامه نویسان چپ آمریکایی ست و برخی آثارش از نوع "اجیت پراپ" (اجیتیشن، پروپاگاندا)، در زمان خود محبوبیت خاصی داشتند.

[Nick Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Irrational man, He wants what he has not,
He dreads what he has to come home to.

He swears by the fact of his want to know more —
Why this, Why now, Why me.

He learns what it all amounts to, this nothing, his life —
He wants but his ignorance back — erasure.

Fine. Give him his wish. Begin again. Zero.
We all do worse the more tries we are given.

[Victoria]

went to go see the play in seattle. tight. tight. tight.

[Mohamed Osman · Rating 3 out of 5]

صراع رائع ، تجريد لشخصيات من أسمائهم ، رمزية محببة ، كل ما تحتاجه لتستمع بعمل مسرحي يوجد هنا ورغم كل هذا كان من الممكن أن تكون أفضل من ذلك بمراحل

[SĦorouk Nasr · Rating 1 out of 5]

شعرت أن الكاتب فعل كل ما بوسعه لتشويه تلك الفكرة العبقرية وليجعل منها عملاً سيئاً للغاية ..

..

[Dana · Rating 4 out of 5]

If this was a novel, it wouldn't get a 4. It is not my normal fantasy genre read or a classic novel, both of which I evaluate a bit differently. This is a play. And I'm not at all used to reading plays. You could even say that I never read a play for pleasure. I love going to the theatre, yes, but plays were never something I would consider worth reading for pleasure because they are meant to be performed. Just like you wouldn't just read a film script. Those plays, which I read for high-school weren't good (yep, controversial opinion, I don't really love Shakespeare's Othello, and Romeo and Juliet) and now, plays I read for university are ranging from not good to decent (Desire Under the Elms being the bad one, Long day's journey into the night being the decent one).
This one, however, is the best play I've probably ever read. And that's not because I was listening to the audiobook so it took much shorter, I found it genuinely good.
The main thing is probably that the comedy was perfectly mixed in with the seriousness of it all, it talked about death and the afterlife and it was written in an engaging, digestible language.

And my favorite moment - the surprise when the policemen came into the Zeros' house and Mr. Zero, out of nowhere, admitted to murder? That line made my mouth open wide and stare at my screen for a good five minutes. Brilliant.

[Brašna · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like dystopia, go ahead and read this. A short play about the world we live in even now. You mind find yourself lost after reading this, though. But don't worry, Hope is just around the corner.
Below is an analysis I wrote in class containing spoilers:
What features of literary expressionism can we find in the play Adding Machine by Elmer Rice?
The world we can see in E. Rice’s play Adding Machine, like Orwell’s 1984 or Huxley’s Brave New World, represents a slightly augmented reality of capitalism that may be familiar to us even now. The main character is called by a name suggesting he could be anybody but also how unimportant he really is. He is just a digit in the whole machinery we live in, working shifts, living in an unfulfilling marriage. To this extent, the play depicts a society not so different from what we can already witness in some places. The unveiling of the whole system comes after he murders his boss, only to find out there is no final judgment, no fires of hell awaiting the sinner. The machinery itself is the never-ending torture of recycled souls, whose life does not improve when they are sent back. Perhaps this way, the author is asking if it is all worth the effort or if we are all just spare parts waiting to be repurposed both in our working positions and in life.

[Christian · Rating 3 out of 5]

As part of my Theatre History: Realism, Post-Realistic, and Contemporary Theatre final, we were tasked to find a play (hardcover - and we have a lovely old copy with pictures from the first production and its scenes) that we had never read before that was from a period we had studied this past semester.

This play, I had discovered, has become a landmark of American Expressionism, reflecting the growing interest in this highly subjective and nonrealistic form of modern drama. It is essentially a criticism of industrial capitalism, suggesting that under its system people are treated as cogs in a machine and that life repeats in a monotonous, never-ending cycle. It also pokes fun at humanity's blind and naïve hopefulness. It intrigued me enough to actually go to the library and check it out. An interesting, quick read at the least.

[Austin Burns · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone reading this for the first time in 2024, perhaps I am too depressed with the state of the world and how unchanged it is since the inception of this play to truly appreciate it. Well done, but as a millennial with an arts degree and perpetual existential crises, I am not the target audience.

[phagocyte jr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow!! So many themes and tones in this short play.

It starts out as a classic house play, but turns into an interrogation of mortality, souls and eastern-influenced symbolism. Very surprising and engaging.

[aloha hal ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh my goodness, what a strange story.

Honestly, all of Rice's devout ways to show one is too obsessed with work, work for me. Yet another author / playwright reminding me that I need to focus elsewhere to live.

[Emma Kay Krebs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initially gave it 3.4 stars, then presented on it in class. 4 star play!!

[m.]

not rating books I read for uni, as per usual.

[viola ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

"You'll learn to be a liar and a bully and a braggart and a coward and a sneak. You'll learn to fear the sunlight and to hate beauty."

[kenzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

i guess

[Patricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is an interesting drama and play, but why do these expressionistic pieces always kinda "misuse" religion or religious elements?

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very radical for 1922--which is why I love theater.

[Adele Blanton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Capitalistically horrifying. Quick read, though. Always nice.

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big surprise. A brilliant play -- and it's American. Doesn't happen often.