machinal

Question 1

what influenced machinal?

Answer 1

a murder trial in new york where Ruth Snyder, who with the help of her lover, Judd Gray, murdered her husband and they were both sentenced to death by electric chair.

Question 2

what background did Sophie Treadwell have?

Answer 2

journalistic background, which influenced the reportage style of machinal.

Question 3

what does the 9 episodes of the play depict?

Answer 3

each depicting the different phases of life that a women comes in contact with and in none of which she finds any place or piece.

Question 3

when was the original performance of machinal?

Answer 3

1928

Question 4

what is significant about the character of the young women?

Answer 4

only character in the play who was given the opportunity to show themselves as a complex mix of duty and rebellion. contrasting with the other characters.

Question 4

what is significant about the other characters in the play?

Answer 4

the characters are stereotypes and caricatures of people; given names by what they do rather than who they are.

Question 4

what are some of the themes in machinal?

Answer 4

• role of women in society.
• individual verses society.
• society presented as the machine of business and inherent prejudice against women.
• YW comes up against the power of pactriarchy in the workplace, religion, law, medicine, marriage and the media.
• duty of women.
• idealised view of life versus reality.
• society condemns her for wanting to break from its rigid constraints.
• effects of living in a dehumanised, materialistic and machine driven society.

Question 4

what is significant about victorian attributes?

Answer 4

victorian attributes towards women still lingered when this play was written, interesting to consider whether they still linger in our contemporary 2025 society.

Question 5

what is the YW robbed from?

Answer 5

beauty and individualism.

Question 6

how does machinal link to a contemporary 2025 audience?

Answer 6

• many aspects of the pressures and expectations of women still linger in our society.
• expectations of women is still very topical even through unlike when the play was written in 1928 we now have a pro-feminist society, but victorian attributes are still engrained in our society and it is important to explore and question why.

Question 7

where was the girl in the machine performed and who wrote it?

Answer 7

• young vic.
• Stef smith.

Question 8

who played polly in girl in the machine?

Answer 8

Sophie Melville.

Question 10

where was giant performed and who was it written by?

Answer 10

• royal court.
• mark Rosenblatt.

Question 11

who were the two main characters in giant and who played them?

Answer 11

jessie stone - Romola Garai.
roahl dahl - john Lithgow.