MACHINAL: SOUTH AUSTRALIA MEETS AN EXPRESSIONIST MASTERPIECE
Red Phoenix Theatre Presents the South Australian premiere of Sophie Treadwell’s MACHINAL at Goodwood Theatre & Studios, 21–30 May 2026
Nearly a century after Sophie Treadwell wrote it, MACHINAL will be staged in Adelaide for the first time. Red Phoenix Theatre presents the South Australian premiere of this globally recognised Expressionist masterpiece at Goodwood Theatre & Studios from 21 to 30 May 2025.
Inspired by one of the most sensational true crime cases of the 1920s, Machinal follows one ordinary woman ground down to breaking point by the relentless machinery of work, marriage and expectation. Treadwell drew from the 1927 murder trial of Ruth Snyder but transformed tabloid sensation into something far more searching, a nine-episode portrait of a woman being squeezed into shapes she was never meant to hold. Nearly a hundred years have passed. What makes Machinal so unsettling is not how distant Treadwell’s world feels from our own, but how close.
Time Out New York called it “stingingly fresh and provocative”. West End Theatre described it as “cleverly inventive, chillingly modern”.Adelaide audiences will now have the chance to decide for themselves.
A VISION IN BLACK AND SHADOW
Director Michael Eustice brings an expressionist production design to the work that bends the physical world of the play around the inner experience of the Young Woman at its centre. The stage is constructed almost entirely from black drama blocks and stools, reconfigured between each of the nine episodes by the ensemble, in movements that are themselves choreographed with mechanical precision. The physical world of the production is bold, precise and thrilling to watch.
While deliberately sparse in its physical design, the production draws on the visual language of German Expressionist cinema, a soundscape layering 1920s jazz and blues with contemporary minimalism, and chiaroscuro lighting that makes shadows as important as light. This is theatre that enters through the eye and takes up residence somewhere deeper.
DIRECTOR QUOTE – I saw MACHINAL at the National Theatre in 1993 and it marked me in ways I am still discovering. There is something in Treadwell’s design – the fragmented language, the expressionist distortion of a world that is grinding one woman to nothing, that is both technically extraordinary and completely, uncomfortably human. Three decades on, bringing this South Australian premiere to Red Phoenix feels less like a directorial choice and more like an obligation. This is what theatre is for. To make the walls close in. To make the air thin. And then, briefly, to let the light in.
Michael Eustice, Director
THE CAST
Machinal features an outstanding ensemble: Trevor Anderson, Laura Antoniazzi, Nic Betts, James Grosser, Matt Houston, Lisa Lanzi, Sophie Livingston-Pearce, Sharon Malujlo, Steve Marvanek, Stuart Pearce, Kate van der Horst, and Leighton Vogt.
PERFORMANCE DETAILS
Title: MACHINAL
Company: Red Phoenix Theatre
Venue: Goodwood Theatre & Studios, Goodwood
Format: Two hours including one interval
Dates & Times: May 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 29 & 30 @ 7.30pm and Sunday May 24 @ 2.00pm
Tickets: $29 full, $23 concession, $26 group booking (6+)
Tickets at the door subject to availability
Bookings: – www.trybooking.com/DCUKY
About Red Phoenix Theatre
Red Phoenix Theatre is a South Australian company dedicated to staging plays that have not previously been performed in Adelaide, including new works, rediscovered classics and fresh adaptations. The company celebrates the power of theatre to illuminate our common humanity and to connect, energise and transform diverse communities.
