ABOUT
GOD FROM THE MACHINE IS A NEW MUSICAL THEATRE WORK WRITTEN BY ELLEN JOHNSTON.
It is a re-imagining of "DEUS EX MACHINA" within the context of modern life. "Deus ex Machina", which literally translates as "God from the Machine", was a plot device used by the ancient Greek and Roman poets and playwrights to help finish their stories. When they'd painted themselves into a corner, they'd invoke the gods to resolve the problem.
And It was not just a metaphorical device, but a physical thing too:
"The Latin phrase deus ex machina, from deus, meaning "a god", ex, meaning "from", and machina, meaning "a device, a scaffolding, an artifice", is a calque from Greek ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός (apò mēkhanḗs theós), meaning "god from the machine".[2] Such a device was referred to by Horace in his Ars Poetica (lines 191–2), where he instructs poets that they should never resort to a "god from the machine" to resolve their plots "unless a difficulty worthy of a god's unraveling should happen" [nec deus intersit, nisi dignus uindice nodus inciderit; nec quarta loqui persona laboret].[3] He was referring to the conventions of Greek tragedy, where a machine is used to bring actors playing gods onto the stage. The machine could be either a crane (mechane) used to lower actors from above or a riser that brought actors up through a trapdoor."
Ancient Greek theatres were not just performing spaces, they were altars to the gods. God From the Machine takes place at a modern day altar, a Guadalupe shrine in a parking lot somewhere near the US-Mexico border.
It is a re-imagining of "DEUS EX MACHINA" within the context of modern life. "Deus ex Machina", which literally translates as "God from the Machine", was a plot device used by the ancient Greek and Roman poets and playwrights to help finish their stories. When they'd painted themselves into a corner, they'd invoke the gods to resolve the problem.
And It was not just a metaphorical device, but a physical thing too:
"The Latin phrase deus ex machina, from deus, meaning "a god", ex, meaning "from", and machina, meaning "a device, a scaffolding, an artifice", is a calque from Greek ἀπὸ μηχανῆς θεός (apò mēkhanḗs theós), meaning "god from the machine".[2] Such a device was referred to by Horace in his Ars Poetica (lines 191–2), where he instructs poets that they should never resort to a "god from the machine" to resolve their plots "unless a difficulty worthy of a god's unraveling should happen" [nec deus intersit, nisi dignus uindice nodus inciderit; nec quarta loqui persona laboret].[3] He was referring to the conventions of Greek tragedy, where a machine is used to bring actors playing gods onto the stage. The machine could be either a crane (mechane) used to lower actors from above or a riser that brought actors up through a trapdoor."
Ancient Greek theatres were not just performing spaces, they were altars to the gods. God From the Machine takes place at a modern day altar, a Guadalupe shrine in a parking lot somewhere near the US-Mexico border.