The Adding Machine

By Elmer Rice

Book Overview

"The Adding Machine" is a seminal work of American expressionist drama that offers a harrowing and satirical look at the dehumanizing effects of the machine age. The play follows the life and afterlife of Mr. Zero, a generic bookkeeper who, after twenty-five years of service, is suddenly replaced by a mechanical adding machine. Driven to a desperate act of violence by this cold displacement, Zero's journey continues through his trial and into a surreal version of the afterlife known as the Elysian Fields, where he remains trapped by his own narrow-mindedness and the soul-crushing constraints of his former existence.

Elmer Rice's masterpiece is celebrated for its innovative staging and its biting critique of industrial society's impact on the human spirit. By personifying the anxieties of the early 20th century, "The Adding Machine" explores profound themes of labor, morality, and the tragic loss of individuality in an increasingly automated world. As a landmark of modern theater, the work provides a timeless commentary on the struggle to maintain one's humanity within the confines of a rigid mechanical bureaucracy.

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1025398904
• ISBN13: 9781025398907
• Release Date: February 2026
• Publisher: Tradd Street Press
• Length: 164 Pages
• Weight: 0.91 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.2" x 0.4" x 6.1"

Customer Reviews

Going "Postal" in 1923.

The Adding Machine was first produced on stage in 1923 and Elmer Rice wrote the Pulitzer Prize for "Street Scene". The Adding Machine is an eye opening take on the soul of a man, who for 25 years adds up figures in the sales department, never missed a day of work and gets canned for technology, an adding machine. The play is a satirical take on corporation, the evolution of man as the slave, and the afterlife. The man and his family or acquaintances are known as numbers, and this man, Mr. Zero, named for the bottom of the work chain. He is married to Mrs. Zero, a nag who is belittling, degrading and clearly in dismay with his demeaning status or lack of ambition. It begins with Mr. Zero, who does nothing but add figures all day; and imagines his boss giving him a raise. He works across from Miss Devore, who dreams of loving him. They carry on one-sided conversations with each other. Mr. Zero degrades and disrespects her while she wishes she were dead without him. He doesn't get the raise, but gets canned, and he goes "postal" and kills the boss. From there, the scenes change from the office to the jail, where he is the subject a tour group as an animal in a cage. Executed, we next see him in the graveyard where he meets Shrdlu, who killed his mother. Together they expect the worst as sinners in hell, but are somehow transformed to a place like heaven, the Elysian Fields considered the final resting place of the souls of the heroic and the virtuous. Mr. Zero then encounters Miss Devore, his workmate, who "blew out the gas" after he died. Then, Mr. Zero is offered a chance to go back to Earth to do it all over again. He learns that the poor souls who arrive there are simply sent back to work; they are used over and over again. It is the end, where we learn through insightful dialogue the evolution of man as the slave in the corporate world. Interesting!.....MzRizz. NOTE:!!! The original play has 8 scenes, and what has been excluded from some performances is the Jail Scene.

Chilling

The Adding Machine by Elmer Rice is regard by many as the first play to bring German expressionism to the American theatre. The story follows the emotional struggle of the characters rather than the plot (in fact most of the major events of the play occur off stage) until he wrote The Adding Machine Rice was a master of the melodrama, but The Adding Machine's distinctively modern feel and disturbing message set it apart from his other plays. It includes a erie dinner scene where six identical couples speak a hyper active version of small talk. this play exposes common place vulgarities and everyday injustice.