| Machinal | |
|---|---|
 Zita Johann andClark Gable in the original Broadway production ofMachinal (1928) | |
| Written by | Sophie Treadwell |
| Date premiered | September 7, 1928 |
| Place premiered | Plymouth Theatre |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Expressionism |
| Setting | An office; a flat; a hotel; a hospital; a speakeasy; a furnished room; a drawing room; a court room; a prison; in the dark |
Machinal is a 1928 play by American playwright and journalistSophie Treadwell, inspired by the real-life case of convicted and executed murdererRuth Snyder. Its Broadway premiere, directed byArthur Hopkins, is considered one of the highpoints ofExpressionist theatre in history of the American stage.
Machinal has appeared on a variety of lists of the greatest plays.[1][2][3]
A young woman works as a low-levelstenographer and lives with her mother. She follows the rituals that society expects of a woman, however resistant she may feel about them. She subsequently marries her boss, whom she finds repulsive. After having a baby with him, she has an affair with a younger man who fuels her lust for life. Driven to murder her husband, she is convicted of the crime and is executed in theelectric chair.
Produced and directed byArthur Hopkins,Machinal opened onBroadway at thePlymouth Theatre on September 7, 1928, and closed on November 24, 1928, after 91 performances. The scenic design was byRobert Edmond Jones,[4] who used an open stage with a permanent background and made scene changes primarily with lighting.[5] The play is presented in two parts, with ten scenes in the first and four in the second.[6] The production is notable for featuringClark Gable in his Broadway debut.
In Britain, the play was first performed under the titleThe Life Machine in 1931.[7]
"It was unfortunate that word was sent broadcast before the first performance ofMachinal that its theme and characters grew out of the notorious Snyder-Gray murder case," wrotePerriton Maxwell, editor ofTheatre Magazine. "The play bears no likeness to the sordid facts of that cheap tragedy...Machinal transcends the drab drama of the police court; it has a quality one finds it difficult to define, a beauty that cannot be conveyed in words, an aliveness and reality tinctured with poetic pathos which lift it to the realm of great art, greatly conceived and greatly presented." CallingMachinal "the most enthralling play of the year," Maxwell attributed the play's success to "three remarkable persons: Sophie Treadwell, Arthur Hopkins and Zita Johann."[6]
"From the sordid mess of a brutal murder the author, actors and producer ofMachinal … have with great skill managed to retrieve a frail and sombre beauty of character," wrote theatre criticBrooks Atkinson ofThe New York Times. "Subdued, monotonous, episodic, occasionally eccentric in its style,Machinal is fraught with a beauty unfamiliar to the stage." Atkinson describes the play as "the tragedy of one who lacks strength; she is not adaptable; she submits...Being the exposition of a character, stark and austere in style,Machinal makes no excuses for the tragedy it unfolds."[8]
The play has been revived many times since its original run.
Adapted for television byIrving Gaynor Neiman,Machinal was presented January 18, 1954, onNBC-TV'sRobert Montgomery Presents. Reviewing the starring performance ofJoan Lorring,Jack Gould ofThe New York Times wrote that "her interpretation of the mentally tortured young woman inMachinal, Sophie Treadwell's expressionistic and bitter poem for the theatre, must rank among the video season's finest accomplishments." The cast also includedMalcolm Lee Beggs as the husband.[9]
An adaptation ofMachinal aired August 14, 1960,[10] onITV the United Kingdom in theABC Armchair Theatre series.Joanna Dunham starred, withDonald Pleasence portraying the husband.[11]
Machinal was producedOff-Broadway at the Gate Theatre, opening in April 1960, with direction byGene Frankel, and featuringDelores Sutton,Vincent Gardenia, andGerald O'Loughlin.[12] In his review inThe New York Times, Brooks Atkinson wrote "Gene Frankel has added modernistic details that visualize the inhumanity of the background... Ballou's cold settings,Lee Watson's macabre lighting complete the design of one of Off-Broadway's most vibrant performances."[13]
The play was produced Off-Broadway by the New York Shakespeare Festival at thePublic Theatre, running from September 25, 1990 to November 25, 1990. Directed byMichael Greif, the cast featuredJodie Markell (Young Woman),John Seitz (Husband), andMarge Redmond (Mother). The production won threeObie Awards: for Performance (Jodie Markell), Direction, and Design (John Gromada).[14]
Machinal was revived by theRoyal National Theatre in London in a production directed byStephen Daldry.[15] It opened on 15 October 1993 withFiona Shaw as the Young Woman,Ciarán Hinds as the Man, andJohn Woodvine as the Husband.[16][17] The scenic design, which included a large metal grid that moved into different positions for the play's different scenes, was byIan MacNeil, costumes were byClare Mitchell, lighting design was byRick Fisher, with music byStephen Warbeck.[15]
A revival opened on Broadway in aRoundabout Theatre production at theAmerican Airlines Theatre on January 16, 2014, directed by Lyndsey Turner, featuringRebecca Hall,Michael Cumpsty, Suzanne Bertish andMorgan Spector.[18]
A new production opened at theAlmeida Theatre in London on June 4, 2018, directed byNatalie Abrahami.[19]
The play has had college and university productions as well, most recently a February 2025 production atRutgers University-Camden andJohnson County Community College,[20] and a 2019 production atCape Breton University.
In 2024,Machinal underwent a revival by theUstinov Studio of theTheatre Royal Bath.[21] It ran periodically throughout the year in bothLondon andBath, its most prestigious venue at the 1,000 seatOld Vic Theatre in London, from 11 April-1 June 2024.[22] The production garnered widespread praise, and was considered by some to be one of the best shows of the past several years.[23] Critics called the main performance by actressRosie Sheehy as Young Woman a highlight of the show[24] and she was nominated for 2025'sLaurence Olivier Award for Best Actress. Thedirection byRichard Jones,CBE, also attracted much admiration.[23] The set by Hyemi Shin included harsh yellow backgrounds, and a large speaker which sat suspended above the stage.[22] The episodeIntimate was well-liked for its beginning in darkness, then adiegetic light growing slowly.[25] Costume designs were by Nicky Gillibrand, lighting by Adam Silverman, sound by Benjamin Grant and casting by Ginny Schiller.[22] The show was created inpartnership with theRoyal Bank of Canada, with support from theArts Council England.[22]
In June 2025,Machinal was launched as an off-Broadway limited engagement. Launched nearly 100 years after the 1926 case of Ruth Snyder, this reimagined production amplified the mechanical rhythm and expressionism in Sophie Treadwell’s text through a dynamic underscoring of tap dance, practical foley, and heightened movement.[26]
Machinal was included inBurns Mantle'sThe Best Plays of 1928–29.[27]
In 2013,Machinal was included onEntertainment Weekly's list of the "50 Greatest Plays of the Past 100 Years".[2]
In 2015, theatre criticMichael Billington included the play in his list of the "101 greatest plays" ever written in any western language.[3]
In 2019,Machinal was named as one of the "40 best plays of all time" byThe Independent.[1]
In 2020,Machinal was included on BroadwayWorld's list of the "101 GREATEST PLAYS of the Past 100 Years".[28]
Accolades
The Royal National Theatre production won three 1994Laurence Olivier Awards, for Best Revival of a Play or Comedy, for Fiona Shaw as Best Actress and Stephen Daldry as Best Director of a Play. Ian MacNeil was nominated as Best Set Designer.[29]
The 2014 Broadway production received four 2014Tony Award nominations: Best Scenic Design of a Play (Es Devlin), Best Costume Design of a Play (Michael Krass), Best in Lighting Design of a Play (Jane Cox) and Best Sound Design of a Play (Matt Tierney).[30]