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Machinal

A powerful expressionist drama from the 1920s about the dependent status of women in an increasingly mechanised society, based on the true story of Ruth Snyder.

More information

Description

  • Full Length Play
  • Drama

  • Time Period: 1920s
  • Target Audience: Adult
  • Set Requirements: Unit Set/Multiple Settings

  • Performance Group:
  • College Theatre / Student, Community Theatre
A powerful expressionist drama from the 1920s about the dependent status of women in an increasingly mechanised society, based on the true story of Ruth Snyder.

Sophie Treadwell was a campaigning journalist in America between the wars. Among her assignments was the sensational murder involving Snyder, who with her lover, Judd Gray, had murdered her husband and gone to the electric chair.

'This is a play written in anger. In the dead wasteland of male society – it seems to ask – isn't it necessary for certain women, at least, to resort to murder?' - Nicholas Wright

Sophie Treadwell's play Machinal was first seen on Broadway in 1928, in London in 1930, and was later revived in the 1990s.

This edition of Machinal includes an introduction by Judith E. Barlow.
REVIEWS:

"Gripping... doesn't loosen its hold on the sense until its shattering climax."

 Independent

"Stingingly fresh and provocative."

 Time Out New York

"[A work of] rare and disturbing beauty."

 The New York Times

Premiere Production: New York, 1928.

Characters

  • Casting: 14M, 10F
  • Casting Attributes: Reduced casting (Doubling Possible), Good role(s) for female performers

Available Material

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Machinal Script This is optional. Order Now

A powerful expressionist drama from the 1920s about the dependent status of women in an increasingly mechanised society, based on the true story of Ruth Snyder.

Sophie Treadwell was a campaigning journalist in America between the wars. Among her assignments was the sensational murder involving Snyder, who with her lover, Judd Gray, had murdered her husband and gone to the electric chair.

'This is a play written in anger. In the dead wasteland of male society – it seems to ask – isn't it necessary for certain women, at least, to resort to murder?' - Nicholas Wright

Sophie Treadwell's play Machinal was first seen on Broadway in 1928, in London in 1930, and was later revived in the 1990s.

This edition of Machinal includes an introduction by Judith E. Barlow.

$24.95

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