Machinal made its Broadway premiere on September 7th, 1928 and ran for 91 performances. It was directed and produced by Arthur Hopkins, who said he sought to “liberate the stage from the confinement of box sets and give greater scope for lighting”. Zika Johann starred as the Young Woman, George Stillwell played the Husband, and Clark Gable made his Broadway debut as the Lover.
The play was revived in 1993 by the Royal National Theatre in London. It was directed by Stephen Daldry, Fiona Shaw starred as Young Woman and Ciaran Hinds played the Lover. The revival won three Olivier Awards, Daldry for directing, Shaw for Best Actress, and Rick Fisher for Best Lighting Designer. The Independent was positive in it’s review, praising the production of the play as a “masterpiece.”
In 2014 Lyndsey Turner directed a broadway revival of Machinal. Rebecca Hall starred as the young woman, and Es Devlin designed the set. The New York Times’ Ben Brantley, was positive of Hall’s performance as well as the design of the set, which he described as “scene-stealing” and as portraying “a juggernaut of doom.”
Sources:
http://www.playbill.com/article/the-mechanics-of-murder-a-history-of-machinal-com-214286
https://officiallondontheatre.com/olivier-awards/winners/olivier-winners-1994/
https://nypost.com/2014/01/17/rebecca-hall-in-thrilling-revival-of-sophie-treadwells-machinal/
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/17/theater/machinal-examines-a-wife-driven-to-kill.html
