ACA presents...

Machinal

Written by Sophie Treadwell, directed by Sam Trotman, and presented by the Graduating Company of 2024 as part of the Americans Series

Sophie Treadwell's play Machinal was first seen on Broadway in 1928, in London in 1930, and has been frequently revived ever since.

A powerful expressionist drama about the dependent status of women in an increasingly mechanized society, based on the true story of Ruth Snyder, 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?

This eloquent and groundbreaking play is a dazzling piece of work that has lost none of its cold fury nor its power to depict a woman trapped by a society that expects her to marry and conform. It is astonishingly modern.

Stingingly provocative and gaspingly intense, Machinal remains pretty extraordinary stuff. It feels like it could have been written yesterday.

Cast: Charles Dakin, Grace Easterby, Jonah Elias, Bayley Elliott, Jennifer Ghadirli, Sebastian Gray, Micaela Phillips, Umai Shantharajah, Georgia Da Silva, Cameron Sutton

This performance runs for 90 mins

Content Warning: Adult Themes & Simulated Drug Use