The Machine Stops
Date
22nd August - 30th August, 2025
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Location
Theatre Works, Melbourne
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Team
Director: Briony Dunn
Set Designers: Niklas Pajanti, Briony Dunn
Lighting Designer: Niklas Pajanti
Costume Designer: Betty Auhl
Sound Design: Darrin Verhagen
Additional Sound Design: Matthew Murana
Projection Design: Aron Murray
Stage Manager: Holland Brooks
Assistant Director: Laura Henderson
Assistant Stage Managers: Antonia Wenke, Mia Stefani
Publicist: Eleanor Howlett, Sassy Red PR
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Performers
Mary Helen Sassman
Patrick Livesey
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Role
Stage Manager
A play by Briony Dunn, adapted from the novella by EM. Forster
From the team that brought you The Human Voice and Moth comes the radical 1909 dystopian epic that predicted the internet.
A rhapsody of sound and light brought to life by two virtuosic performers, this world premiere is a masterful new adaptation of the novella by E.M. Forster (A Room with a View, Howards End, A Passage to India).
More piercing than 1984 and Brave New World combined, THE MACHINE STOPS is the chilling tale of a futuristic information-orientated society where all of humanity survives in a subterranean world. Connected by a global instant-messaging system, they have grown fearful of first-hand experience. Starring Mary Helen Sassman and Patrick Livesey, prepare to experience a remarkable theatrical event where technology has become the ultimate controlling force.
Running for a limited season and playing as a part of the 2025 By Theatre Works programming, this powerful adaptation is not to be missed!
Notable Reviews
"A rhapsody of sound and light brought to life by two virtuosic performers, this world premiere is a masterful new adaptation of the novella by E.M. Forster... More piercing than 1984 and Brave New World combined." Australian Arts Review
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"Almost every creative choice sets up a tense conversation with the text, and the whiff of chauvinism in the traditional portrayal gets displaced by a purgatorial misogyny that hangs over the production like a shroud." The Age
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