Thomas Brandt

The Mechanicals: an Elizabethan Comedy in Common Prose Thomas Brandt

Jack Evans' world is out of whack. He can't satisfy his father's expectations, he's losing touch with his wife, and the factory he manages for his father is behind its schedules. Jack journeys to Japan with the company's lawyer and top industrial engineer to accept a special machine to overcome the production difficulties. However, traveling with two attractive women makes Jack's life even more complicated. While Jack is away, his wife explores adventures of her own with the director of an amateur production of Twelfth Night, in which she and he play the leading roles. Meanwhile, Jack's half-brother, Antonio, schemes to discredit Jack in their father's eyes. The truck carrying the machine disappears on its way to Jack's factory; even the weather turns rotten. Jack despairs of ever restoring order to his life.