Tiyatroda Ekspresyonizm ve Bir Oyun Örneği: Machinal (Mekanik)
Bu makalede ekspresyonist sanatın, sanatçının nesne karşısında içsel tutumlarını dışavurumu ve bunun tiyatro sanatında parçalı yazım tekniği, çeşitli ses efektlerinin sahnelemede önem arz etmesi ve toplumsal düzendeki çatlaklara karşı çıkış bağlamında Sophie Treadwell’in Machinal adlı oyunu incelenmiştir. Oyunun anlatım tekniği açısından gerçeklik yapısını bozması, Treadwell’in vurgulamaya çalıştığı düşünceleri açığa çıkardığı düşünülmüş ve bu sebeple özellikle bu gerçeklikten kopuş anlarının görünür kıldığı faraziyeler, içselleştirilmiş ve sorgulanmamış halde kabul edilmesine karşı yeni bir bakış açısı oluşturmanın yolları aranmıştır. Metinde, kadın algısının tekdüze ve ikincil oluşunun altının çizildiği anlaşılmıştır. Bu bilgi de yazarın, oyununu feminist perspektiften yola çıkarak alışagelmiş kadın faraziyelerinin gerçekliğini sorgulamak ve belki yıkmak üzere kurguladığı fikrini doğurmuştur. Ayrıca yazar, kadın odaklı bir hikâye anlatırken, kadın ve siyahi, rahip ve erkek eşleştirmeleri yaparak toplumdaki baskın ve öteki karakterleri ortaya koymuştur. Aslında başlı başına sistem eleştirisi olan oyun, sanayileşmenin getirdiği mekanikleşmeyi, insan ruhuna ve davranışlarına da yansıtmış, bu yansıtışı sahne üzerinde aktörlerin kesik hareket ve parçalı bütünlüksüz ve iletişimsiz konuşmalarıyla göstermek istemiştir.
Expressionism in the Theatre and an Example of a Play: Machinal
In this article, Sophie Treadwell’s play Machinal is examined in the context of expressionist art as it expresses the artist’s inner attitude towards the object. The play is also examined in the light of its fragmented writing technique, and importance is given to various sound effects in the staging which seem to reflect cracks in the social order. The play’s disruption of the structure of reality in terms of the narrative technique is considered to reveal the thoughts that Treadwell tried to emphasize, and therefore the ways of creating a new perspective against the acceptance of the postulates made visible by the moments of detachment from this reality are sought. It is understood in the text that the perception of women is uniform and secondary. This also gives rise to the idea that the writer, based on a feminist perspective, was constructed to question and perhaps demolish the reality of conventional female hypotheses. In addition, while the playwright tells a woman-oriented story, she also reveals the dominant characters in society by making pairs of women and African Americans, priests and men. In fact, the play, which is a system criticism in itself, reflects the mechanization brought by industrialization to human spirit and behavior and attempts to show this reflection on the stage by means of the actors’ interrupted movements as well as their fragmented and distorted speeches.
Expressionism is an art that shapes the experiments that lie deep within a person. When emulation to nature is denied, stylistic variations are not important. Art is there to ensure that the pressures created by daily, random, psychological, and rational facts are resolved and to re-connect with personal creativity and with an imaginary driving force.
The historical period of 1910-1925 in Germany was shaped by pre- and post-war events.
It was influenced by the mental depression of the period, and the lack of creative power brought by industrialization led to new forms of discoveries. The subject and form chosen by the expressionists aimed to destroy the idea that ‘humans had become machines’. The solidarity of all “others” was advocated.
Expressionism in theater art derives its strength from playwrights who express their own internal crisis and the cracks in society which they encounter. This movement shows itself in a different way of writing. Linear time flow and meaningful conversations seen in realistic plays are disrupted. While formal speeches are not completely left out, there are fragmented dialogues, disjointed words and repetitions that come out with the adoption of the scream feature.
In the staging of such plays, attempts are made by means of all kinds of elements to destroy reality. The plays do not progress according to the cause-effect relationship and any excess is removed from the scene. A stack of decor is not required and there is an affordable asymmetrical scene concept in the icon. Light is used as an important factor in symbolizing and creating tension.
Sophie Treadwell’s Machinal was inspired by the real trial story of Ruth Snyder who killed her husband with her lover Judd Gray. The play is the spiritual expression of women being socially positioned as secondary beings after men. In the play, in which feminism is the dominant theme, Treadwell questions many claims such as a woman needs a man to live in normal material conditions, marriage is a material institution, the married woman should be ready for sex at any time, she should love the baby she gave birth to, and sensual pleasure is evaluated differently between men and women. The play reflects on the stage the industrialization of the period and is a reflection of the monotonous working life of employees whose job description is specified by their companies. The playwright portrays this mechanically enriched life by means of the actors’ disrupted actions to disintegrated forms of speech. In addition, the expressionist style of each scene is supported by its own music or dominant sound effects.
The play consists of nine separate scenes. In keeping with the expressionist style arrangement, the change of scene in different places aims to be accomplished with minimal decor. The scenes take place in the following independent situations: 1- At work, 2-At Home, 3-Honeymoon, 4-Maternal, 5-Prohibited, 6-Intimate, 7-Domestic, 8-The Law, 9-A Machine.
Every scene is the reflection of an idea. The events in the play destroy the socially accepted postulates. The ideas portrayed in the scenes are as follows: In the first scene, the working person has been mechanized. In the second scene, it is not love but a man with good financial strength who is ideal for marriage. In the third scene, the married woman must be prepared for sex. In the fourth scene, the woman is happy that she gave birth to a baby. In the fifth scene, concepts such as cheating, abortion, homosexuality are depicted as immoral. In the sixth scene, love brings freedom. In the seventh scene, acquiring property by being in debt becomes the status indicator of a person. In the eighth scene, laws are result oriented. News necessarily includes comments. In the ninth scene, freedom is not possible for any ‘others’.
When we look at the formal arrangement of the play, the fragmented speech structure is dominant in the first scenes and realistic writing techniques based on a cause-effect relationship is disrupted. Realistic form features are more common in the last scenes. Although there are fragmented dialogues, they are less than in the first scenes. However, this does not cause the play to lose its expressionist character. The newspaper headlines, which are read independently from each other in the seventh scene, and the intervention of different news commentaries of the journalists during the eighth scene, appear as strengthening elements of this structure.
Machinal questions all kinds of topics from the woman’s sexuality to work life, from material life to sexual pleasure, from social freedom to motherhood, and the woman is presented as an oppressed biological-social unit. In so doing, Treadwell uses many of the mentioned staging elements and writing techniques that could destroy realistic theater.
