Long Day's Journey Into Night

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This article is about the play. For the 1962 film, see Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962 film).

Long Day's Journey Into Night is a dramatic play in four acts by Eugene O'Neill, widely considered to be his masterwork. It won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1957.

Contents

[edit] Summary

The action covers a fateful, heart-wrenching day (from around 8:30 in the morning to 12:00 midnight) in August of 1912 at the seaside Connecticut home of the Tyrones - the autobiographical representations of O'Neill himself, his older brother, and their parents.

[edit] Characters

  • James Tyrone Sr. - An Irish-born retired actor who made a career playing one particular role in a commercially successful but artistically unfulfilling play. He has a strong work ethic and is very frugal - almost stingy - due to his father abandoning him at age 10.
  • Edmund - The younger and more intellectually and poetically inclined son, who finds out in the play that he suffers from tuberculosis. He has returned home after a stint as a sailor and prolonged drunken binges, and is dependent once again on his father for a home and money.
  • James Jr. ("Jamie") - The older son who is an affable alcoholic and also an actor, employed by his father's production company because no one else will hire him. He's an alcoholic, wasting his money on whiskey and whores.
  • Mary Cavan Tyrone - The wife and mother of the family who lapses between self-delusion and the haze of her morphine addiction. [See "Morphine Addiction" below]
  • Cathleen - She is the summer maid, often referred to as stupid and lazy. She accompanies Mary into town.

[edit] Key topics

[edit] Mary Tyrone's morphine addiction

This is the result of the shoddy ministrations of a quack doctor during her difficult labor and delivery of Edmund twenty-three years prior. Tyrone is often blamed for this as his stinginess is cited as a reason he didn't pay for a better doctor. Mary is treated in a sanatorium for this condition. Even after being released from the institution, Mary is still addicted to morphine, but is unable to accept her addiction.

[edit] Repetition

The day described in this play is very routine and repetitious. Act I scene i occurs right after breakfast, Act II scene i occurs before lunch and Act II scene ii occurs right after lunch. Act III occurs before dinner. Throughout the day, drinking is heavy and is perhaps the basis of the cycle of arguments which occur. Their arguments deal with the sickness of Edmund and the addiction of Mary, as well as the lack of commercial success experienced by Edmund and Jamie in comparison with their father. The arguments also deal with Mary's accusation that Tyrone does not provide a "real" home for her.

[edit] Alcohol

The male characters drink throughout the play. This provides them with a way to escape from the realities of the home. Mary does not drink, but also escapes from the home, through her use of morphine.

[edit] History of the play

Upon its completion in 1942, O'Neill had a sealed copy of the play placed in the document vault of publisher Random House, and instructed that it not be published until 25 years after his death, and never performed. A formal contract to that effect was drawn up in 1945. However, O'Neill's third wife Carlotta Monterey transferred the rights of the play to Yale University, skirting the agreement. The copyright page of Yale editions of the play states the conditions of Carlotta's gift:

All royalties from the sale of the Yale editions of this book go to Yale University for the benefit of the Eugene O'Neill Collection, for the purchase of books in the field of drama, and for the establishment of Eugene O'Neill Scholarships in the Yale School of Drama.

The play was first published in 1956, three years after its author's death.

O'Neill presented the manuscript of the play to his wife Carlotta on their twelfth wedding anniversary in 1941, with a dedication that read:

For Carlotta, on our 12th Wedding Anniversary

Dearest: "I give you the original script of this play of old sorrow, written in tears and blood. A sadly inappropriate gift, it would seem, for a day celebrating happiness. But you will understand. I mean it as a tribute to your love and tenderness which gave me the faith in love that enabled me to face my dread at last and write this play--write it with deep pity and understanding and forgiveness for all the four haunted Tyrones.

These twelve years, Beloved One, have been a Journey into Light--into love. You know my gratitude. And my love!

Gene

Tao House

July 22, 1941.

[edit] Productions

[edit] Premiere productions

In keeping with O’Neill’s wishes, Long Day's Journey Into Night was first performed by the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, Sweden. During his lifetime, the Swedish people had embraced O’Neill’s work to a far greater extent than had any other nation, including his own. Thus, the play had its world premiere in Stockholm on February 2, 1956, in a production directed by Bengt Ekerot, with the cast of Lars Hanson (James Tyrone), Inga Tidblad (Mary Tyrone), Ulf Palme (James Tyrone, Jr.), Jarl Kulle (Edmund Tyrone) and Caterine Westerlund (Cathleen, the serving-maid or "second girl" as O'Neill's script dubs her). The premiere and production were very successful, and the directing and acting critically acclaimed.

The Broadway debut of Long Day's Journey Into Night took place at the Helen Hayes Theatre on November 7, 1956 (shortly after its American premiere at New Haven's Shubert Theatre).[1] The production was directed by José Quintero, and its cast included Fredric March (James Tyrone), Florence Eldridge (Mary Tyrone), Jason Robards, Jr. (“Jamie” Tyrone), Bradford Dillman (Edmund), and Katharine Ross (Cathleen). The production won the Tony Award for Best Play and Best Actor in a Play (Fredric March), and the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play of the season.

The play’s first production in the United Kingdom came in 1958, opening first in Edinburgh, Scotland and then moving to the Globe Theatre in London’s West End. It was directed again by Quintero, and the cast included Anthony Quayle (Tyrone), Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies (Mary), Ian Bannen (Jamie), Alan Bates (Edmund), and Etain O’Dell (Cathleen).

[edit] Other notable productions

[edit] Film adaptations

For main article about the film, see Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962 film)

[edit] Sources

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