Who is Sophie Treadwell:
Ms. Treadwell was born in 1885. She earned a degree in French from UC Berkeley in 1902 while pursuing both acting and writing simultaneously. After graduation, she began writing for the San Francisco Bulletin, the Harper’s Weekly and the New York Tribune in addition to others.
During WWI she acted as one of the world's first female war correspondents as well as being "the only journalist permitted to interview Pancho Villa at his hideaway in Canutillo during the Mexican Revolution."
During WWI she acted as one of the world's first female war correspondents as well as being "the only journalist permitted to interview Pancho Villa at his hideaway in Canutillo during the Mexican Revolution."
Sophie Treadwell wrote Boradway plays such as Gringo, O Nightingale, Machinal, Ladies Leave, Lone Valley and Plumes in the Dust. "Machinal, which is loosely based on the famous murder trial of Ruth Snyder and Judd Gray, is considered the best in her oeuvre. The play first opened on Broadway in 1928 and featured a young Clark Gable. Treadwell also penned the novels, Hope for a Harvest and One Fierce Hour and Sweet. In 1970, she died in Tucson Arizona and the majority of her works and papers were donated to the University of Arizona."
Sophie Treadwell's Mission:
Machinal is distinct amoung plays for many reasons, one of which is the mission which she has stated at the beginning of the Play. It s divided into three parts: The Plot, The Plan and The Hope.
Machinal is distinct amoung plays for many reasons, one of which is the mission which she has stated at the beginning of the Play. It s divided into three parts: The Plot, The Plan and The Hope.
The language which Sophie uses even in this introduction is used to support the premis. Although the play is based on the murder trial of Ruth Snyder, the play states that this could be "any woman," and the play continues to refer to the main character as simply "Young Woman."
The play is entirely expressionistic. The rhythms and speech patterns as well as any thought processes are unlike anything we would hear out of the mouths around us. It is entirely from within the head and unconcious.
Expressionism was used ironically to showcase the ugliness or true beauty in life through the unrealistic. Using the out of the norm concepts to face true reality.
The play is written in a time when machinery and technology was booming. People were increasingly expected to work in a mechanical manner (i.e. assembly lines) and and were asked on a daily basis to conform to the norm.
The play asks questions about human nature verus machine and how the expectaions of our society shape our lives. This is a question which is still explored today. (Dollhouse anyone? If you haven't figured out by now that I am a fan.)
"The mechanization of labor and its correlation with war created a sense of impersonal conformity and an intense fear that somehow the machine would consume humanity." We still deal with that fear. Terminator, Dollhouse, The Matrix.
The play is entirely expressionistic. The rhythms and speech patterns as well as any thought processes are unlike anything we would hear out of the mouths around us. It is entirely from within the head and unconcious.
Expressionism was used ironically to showcase the ugliness or true beauty in life through the unrealistic. Using the out of the norm concepts to face true reality.
The play is written in a time when machinery and technology was booming. People were increasingly expected to work in a mechanical manner (i.e. assembly lines) and and were asked on a daily basis to conform to the norm.
The play asks questions about human nature verus machine and how the expectaions of our society shape our lives. This is a question which is still explored today. (Dollhouse anyone? If you haven't figured out by now that I am a fan.)
"The mechanization of labor and its correlation with war created a sense of impersonal conformity and an intense fear that somehow the machine would consume humanity." We still deal with that fear. Terminator, Dollhouse, The Matrix.
Ms. Treadwell furthers this point by never refering to any of the character by their individual names. Instead they are refered to by the job, or relation to those around them. (Sidenote: Refering to people by their occupations has been done for thousands of years, resulting in last names such as Smith, and Thatcher.)
Source:
http://www.montclair.edu/Arts/oeco/images/Machinal.pdf
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