Perhaps it is just the personification of household appliances, but this bit reminds me a lot of Caroline or Change, whose cast includes a washing machine and a dryer. Interestingly, that musical also deals with a woman's unraveling mental state, although it does not share the same sexual themes and plot.

It's very interesting that we have written in the stage directions, presumably by Strindberg himself, a departure from more presentational acting styles. Representational acting is often cited as having begun almost 10 years later in 1898 with Stanislavski's direction of The Seagull. Perhaps he wasn't a true innovator, just a popularizer!