'Diabolus Ex Machina': Manipulation and Masterly Intrigue in James Kennaway's Some Gorgeous Accident

BOLFRY.[...] The drama will revolve about him and ... ah, yes ... his lady wife. As I had nearly forgotten all about her, she is probably the key to the whole business. There, my dear friends, are the Dramatis Personae. We have now ...COHEN. Where do you come in?BOLFRY. I am the Devil from the Machine. Here we have our persons in the play.'[1] In James Bridie's play Mr Bolfry introduces himself as the Devil from the Machine, master of drama, pulling the strings of all the characters involved. Is that how a 'diabolus ex machina' can be defined? The deus ex machina is an utterly unexpected mechanical device, which saves the hero or heroine at the very last minute. Mr Bolfry's statements suggest that the Devil from the Machine instigates the action which causes the hero or heroine's distress in the first place. And how does this relate to James Kennaway's novel Some Gorgeous Accident?