Eugene O’Neill’s autobiographical magnum opus Long Day’s Journey into Night presents a single day and night in the lives of the troubled Tyrone family, during which they conduct a torturous and tragic self-examination. It is a relentlessly bitter and mournful round robin of recriminations and self-dramatization, written as an act of personal confrontation with O’Neill’s own family demons. As the title suggests, the play is long and taxing. It is raw and despairing, but also lyrical, and ultimately heartbreakingly moving.
Eugene O’Neill finished writing Long Day’s Journey into Night in April 1941, but because of the personal revelations it contained he gave explicit instructions that the play was not to be published until 25 years after his death, and more extraordinarily, that it should never be performed on stage. However, within three years of his death his widow allowed both the publication of the play, and the first productions at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, and then on Broadway, where it received ecstatic reviews and won the fourth Pulitzer prize of O’Neill’s career.
It has been staged many times since, filmed on a number of occasions, and become a staple of educational curricula, particularly in North America. As we record this episode, a powerful new production is playing in the West End of London, with Brian Cox, most recently renowned as the ruthless patriarch Logan Roy in the TV series Succession, and Patricia Clarkson leading the cast.
I am very excited and privileged to be able to talk to the London production’s director, Jeremy Herrin, about this monumental play.
