Machinal (NHB Classic Plays)
3.5/5
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About this ebook
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
With an introduction by Judith E. Barlow.
'gripping... doesn't loosen its hold on the senses until its shattering climax' Independent
'stingingly fresh and provocative' Time Out New York
'[a work of] rare and disturbing beauty' New York Times
Sophie Treadwell
Sophie Treadwell was born in California in 1885. She went to High School in San Francisco and then to the University of California, from which she graduated in 1906 and became a reporter on the San Francisco Bulletin. The highlights of her career as a journalist included an investigative series on homeless women, an exclusive interview with Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, and a spell in Europe as one of the first women foreign correspondents covering the 1914-18 War. She wrote four novels and more than thirty plays, including O Nightingale (1922), Gringo (1922), Machinal (1928), Ladies Leave (1929), Lusita (1931), Plumes in the Dust (1936), For Saxophone (1939-41) and Hope for a Harvest (1941), after which she gave up writing for the stage. She died in 1970.
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Reviews for Machinal (NHB Classic Plays)
31 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The best part of this book is the introduction, in which I learned about Treadwell and expressionism. The play is excellent. I am officially off the wagon of depressing literature about women...I'm discontinuing my nightly routine of reading Shirley Jackson short stories (The Renegade mixed with Machinal thoroughly depressed me) and I'm going to read something more upbeat. :)
I recommend Bjork's film "Dancer in the Dark" which is also thoroughly depressing and disturbing in the same way.
P.S. Putting the bookcrossing label on the cover that exclaims, "I'm Free! I'm not lost!" kind of choked me up...very appropriate. - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the story of a woman who marries a man she does not love. It is very mechanized in its structure, as is suited to a piece that is approaching the problem as that of a machine that goes wrong. It isn't particularly easy to read, since characters change their designations within the piece, becoming known by other names as the play proceeds and they move to a different status, such as First Man becoming Lover and Mr. J. becoming Husband. This can cause a bit of confusion, but if you can get past that, it is a play that is well worth spending some time reading.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5In this dramatic play, a young woman looks for peace and happiness in a variety of ways – work, marriage, motherhood – but never finds fulfillment, only a mechanized routine. Machinal is very loosely based, or rather inspired, by the true and then-shocking story of Ruth Snyder who, with the help of her lover, murdered her husband and met her fate through the electric chair as a result. With that background, you know you’re not going to be in for a happy ending with this play by Sophie Treadwell.But what makes Machinal so fascinating for me is not the plot but the way it is written. As Treadwell herself explains in the stage directions at the beginning of the play “The hope is to create a stage production that will have ‘style’ … In the dialogue of these scenes there is the attempt to catch the rhythm of our common city speech, its brassy sound, its trick of repetition, etc. Then there is, also, the use of many different sounds chosen primarily for their inherent emotional effect (steel riveting, a priest chanting, a Negro singing, jazz band, etc.), but contributing also to the creation of a background, an atmosphere.” Unlike the many plays I’ve been to where you could hear a pin drop between characters’ lines, this play calls for lots of ambient noise – from typewriters clanging in an office to children playing outside. So much of this play occurs off stage that I’ve always been fascinated by how it would actually play out on a stage. (I’ve only ever read it before but I’m excited by the prospect of going to see this play live shortly.)It’s not the kind of play where the viewer (or this case, reader) would walk away having beautiful and catchy lines to repeat as much of the dialogue is staccato – but again, another reason why I like it. The short, rushed speech of the characters, especially the protagonist Helen who can barely ever get out a coherent sentence, adds all the more to the jarring atmosphere of this play. The episode called “Prohibited” is an especially striking scene in which Treadwell touches upon a number of still touchy issues, including homosexuality and abortion, in a roundabout way by having the viewer able to listen in on the conversations of random characters not tied to the plot at all. It seems a particularly daring scene for a play written in 1928. While there are obvious markers of age, such as typewriters and adding machines, on the whole Machinal feels oddly modern.I really, really enjoy this play although I’m not sure my rambling comments here really do it justice. It’s relatively short so I would recommend going out and finding a copy to read immediately. It’s so fantastic you won’t be disappointed.