Slaughter City
Encyclopedia
Slaughter City is a play written by Naomi Wallace
. It tells the story of the otherworldly Cod's employment at a slaughterhouse
.
-related incidents including the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
of 1911 in which textile
workers found themselves locked inside the building unable to escape the blaze, the fire department's ladders were too short to reach, and the fire escape warped in the heat. Cod's mother was revealed to be pregnant at the time of the fire, and made a deal with the otherworldly entity known only as the Sausage Man, that he would save her unborn child, if it would be enslaved to him; a deal which she, for her child's sake, agrees to. She jumps, landing on a pile of others who had chosen to jump rather than burn; the fall kills her, but Cod is delivered premature but alive. All this is revealed in the course of the play, only fully explaining itself in the final moments of the second act.
The Sausage Man raises Cod for the purpose of playing a game, in which Cod attempts to rally the workers to strike
, and the Sausage man attempts to quash the strike by manipulating the management and owners. In order to achieve success Cod, who is in fact a woman, must more often than not disguise herself as a boy, to both aid in her hiring and in her ability to rally the workers. Sometimes she works from within the labor union and sometimes she attempts this as a scab
. This game is played throughout time and space, on a whim the Sausage Man can pull her in or out of a situation, which has proven to have saved her life, but also to cost her the ability to see things through to the end. Due to the constant shifts in time and location, Cod often finds herself displaced and confused, forgetting where and when she is.
The Sausage Man's ability to manipulate reality is apparently aided by his portable meat grinder
, which he constantly has hanging from around his neck.
The play is divided into two acts. The transitions from one scene to the next are written as "fade to black
" but, in the case of the performance held at The University of Texas at Austin in Spring of 2007, the transition between scenes involves the cast arranging the set and props
, while at the same time producing a mechanical mechanized rhythm beat.
The live stage performance rights are licensed by Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
Naomi Wallace
Naomi Wallace is a playwright, screenwriter and poet from Prospect, Kentucky, United States.-Life:Wallace obtained her Bachelor of Arts from Hampshire College and did graduate studies at the University of Iowa....
. It tells the story of the otherworldly Cod's employment at a slaughterhouse
Slaughterhouse
A slaughterhouse or abattoir is a facility where animals are killed for consumption as food products.Approximately 45-50% of the animal can be turned into edible products...
.
Plot
The play was inspired by a number of laborWage labour
Wage labour is the socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer, where the worker sells their labour under a formal or informal employment contract. These transactions usually occur in a labour market where wages are market determined...
-related incidents including the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City on March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city of New York and resulted in the fourth highest loss of life from an industrial accident in U.S. history...
of 1911 in which textile
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
workers found themselves locked inside the building unable to escape the blaze, the fire department's ladders were too short to reach, and the fire escape warped in the heat. Cod's mother was revealed to be pregnant at the time of the fire, and made a deal with the otherworldly entity known only as the Sausage Man, that he would save her unborn child, if it would be enslaved to him; a deal which she, for her child's sake, agrees to. She jumps, landing on a pile of others who had chosen to jump rather than burn; the fall kills her, but Cod is delivered premature but alive. All this is revealed in the course of the play, only fully explaining itself in the final moments of the second act.
The Sausage Man raises Cod for the purpose of playing a game, in which Cod attempts to rally the workers to strike
Strike action
Strike action, also called labour strike, on strike, greve , or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became important during the industrial revolution, when mass labour became...
, and the Sausage man attempts to quash the strike by manipulating the management and owners. In order to achieve success Cod, who is in fact a woman, must more often than not disguise herself as a boy, to both aid in her hiring and in her ability to rally the workers. Sometimes she works from within the labor union and sometimes she attempts this as a scab
Strikebreaker
A strikebreaker is a person who works despite an ongoing strike. Strikebreakers are usually individuals who are not employed by the company prior to the trade union dispute, but rather hired prior to or during the strike to keep the organisation running...
. This game is played throughout time and space, on a whim the Sausage Man can pull her in or out of a situation, which has proven to have saved her life, but also to cost her the ability to see things through to the end. Due to the constant shifts in time and location, Cod often finds herself displaced and confused, forgetting where and when she is.
The Sausage Man's ability to manipulate reality is apparently aided by his portable meat grinder
Meat grinder
A meat grinder or meat mincer is a kitchen appliance for grinding, fine mincing or mixing raw or cooked meat, fish, vegetables or similar food. It replaces tools like the mincing knife, for example, which has been used to produce minced meat, filling etc. The producer puts the minced food into a...
, which he constantly has hanging from around his neck.
The play is divided into two acts. The transitions from one scene to the next are written as "fade to black
Fade (lighting)
In stage lighting, a fade is a gradual increase or decrease of the intensity of light projected onto the stage. The term fade-in refers to gradually changing the lighting level from complete darkness to a predetermined lighting level. A fade-out refers to gradually decreasing the intensity of...
" but, in the case of the performance held at The University of Texas at Austin in Spring of 2007, the transition between scenes involves the cast arranging the set and props
Theatrical property
A theatrical property, commonly referred to as a prop, is an object used on stage by actors to further the plot or story line of a theatrical production. Smaller props are referred to as "hand props". Larger props may also be set decoration, such as a chair or table. The difference between a set...
, while at the same time producing a mechanical mechanized rhythm beat.
The live stage performance rights are licensed by Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
Broadway Play Publishing Inc.
Broadway Play Publishing Inc, along with Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, Inc., and Samuel French Inc., is one of the four major New York play publishers and licensors of stage rights...
Characters
- Cod's mother – a textile worker, who appears in several illusion or flashback scenes throughout the performance, enacting a routine of her profession of pulling and weaving textiles, while reciting a poem-like monologueMonologueIn theatre, a monologue is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts aloud, though sometimes also to directly address another character or the audience. Monologues are common across the range of dramatic media...
in her Irish accentHiberno-EnglishHiberno-English is the dialect of English written and spoken in Ireland .English was first brought to Ireland during the Norman invasion of the late 12th century. Initially it was mainly spoken in an area known as the Pale around Dublin, with Irish spoken throughout the rest of the country...
. - Cod - who is introduced as a scab, and is ridiculed by Maggot, Roach, and Brandon, who are union workers. A strike has recently ended without a contract, and the union workers are still negotiating.
- Roach - an African American woman who works in the slaughterhouse
- Maggot - childhood friend and co-worker of Roach, the two are somewhat like sisters
- Brandon - also a co-worker who has successfully created the illusion that he is a college student, but later reveals that not only can he not read, but after having his lips sewn shut when he was younger, has never kissed a girl, leading to his unsuccessful attempts to entice Roach and Maggot sexually.
- Tuck - an African American man who, after receiving his job via affirmative action, works as management at the slaughterhouse.
- Baquin - a high-powered executive type, who as the play progresses becomes more and more like the animals that his slaughterhouse butchers, physically taking on the appearance of a pig, and being unable to say the word "mood" without resorting to mooing in a cow like fashion.