Review: User Manual for a Broken Machine, Theatro Technis

There is something wonderfully absurd about User Manual for a Broken Machine, and somehow, the more absurd it gets, the more powerful the story gets. Created by KASSNA, the show is an inventive, deeply moving and occasionally hilarious piece of experimental theatre that uses a humble vacuum cleaner to question the dark side of Korea’s rapid industrialisation. 

At its heart is the unnamed narrator, played by Eden Jun, who cuts a compelling figure. At first, we’re puzzled why she’s reading off an instruction manual. But it suddenly makes sense. We’re hearing her story of growing up in South Korea during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s. These were decades of ambition and development, as Korea sought to establish itself on the global stage. It was a period fuelled by hope and the promise that hard work would bring prosperity. As long as one played by the rules, studied hard, worked hard, and contributed to their community, company, and country, they would be richly rewarded. Soon, we learn, this optimistic narrative hides a darker reality. The growing influence of chaebols, one of them being Daewoo, caused traumatic economic instability and chaos during the 1998 Asian financial crisis, gambling recklessly with people’s lives including hers.

The use of the Daewoo vacuum cleaner and its extremely verbose instruction manual as a critique of unfettered capitalism is particularly brilliant. And the things one can do with a vacuum cleaner! Performer and choreographer Suyoung Park makes wonderfully inventive use of the machine, dismantling and transforming its components into props for movement. At one point, the fragments become a miniature set representing a riot, enhanced by live video. In another, the disassembled vacuum cleaner is transformed into something resembling a disassembled gun with just a change of lighting (by lighting design duo Slice of Light). 

The other design elements contribute significantly to this strange world. Seayool‘s use of traditional Korean instruments creates an evocative soundscape shifting between tradition and modernity. Creative Technologist Aniket Joshi‘s interactive digital experience offers one of the more interesting audience experiences I’ve encountered as a regular theatregoer. 

That said, the production’s experimental ambitions are occasionally made at the expense of cohesion. While the individual creative choices are often fascinating and certainly augment the visual experience, not all of them feel entirely integrated or relevant to the storytelling. The mish-mash makes for a narrative that is occasionally uneven. Ultimately, however, there is a moving human story, beneath all the playful absurdity. 

The narrator’s story isn’t just about chaebols or corporate greed, but about resilience in the face of living with systems and structures that govern the modern world. As the vacuum cleaner breaks down and neither its manual nor the AI chatbot can offer any meaningful help, perhaps the only option is to keep moving forward, with a little help from art and humour. 

User Manual is a great little show, and a refreshingly unconventional reminder that sometimes the machine was never designed to work for us in the first place.

Lead Artist, Writer and Director: Namoo Chae Lee
Movement and Choreography: Suyoung Park
Composer, Sound Artist and Performer: Seayool
Performer: Eden Jun
Video Designer: Wilfred Wong
Creative Technologist: Aniket Joshi
Lighting Design: Slice of Light (Nurul Wardani & Sammy Kissin)

User Manual for a Broken Machine has ended its run at Theatro Technis as part of the Voila! Theatre Festival.