Machinal

Machinal is 1928 play written by the American journalist Sophie Treadwell. It refers to the execution of Ruth Snyder for murdering her husband. It is considered as one of the highlights of the American Expressionistic theatre. The plot sets the “girl” against the “Machine”. The Machine consists of the city, the people, the husband, the mother, the office, anything that the girl cannot be integrated in. She is dreaming of a human way of existing, whereas everyone demands from her to become part of the machine. The play can also be considered as a great feministic manifesto.
For this play, several scenes where adjusted in order to acquire bold rhythmical and musical qualities and big parts where actual rhythmical scores. Other scenes remained silent and the dramaturgy was musically driven. The electronics served as the interlocking element of the scenes throughout the play, and became the red line that added coherence to the general sound sense.