Long Day's Journey into Night

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.

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 brother, and their parents.

Characters

• James Tyrone Sr. - an Irish-born retired actor who squandered his considerable gifts as a classical thespian to make a career playing one particular role in a commercially successful but artistically unfulfilling play
• Edmund - the younger and more poetically inclined son, suffers from tuberculosis and a deep disillusionment with the world around him after sailing the world as a deck hand
• James Jr. ("Jamie") - the older song who is an affable alcoholic and the object of stubborn repeated attempts by his father to be set up in business, despite his status as a confirmed ne'er-do-well
• 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 - second girl

Key Topics

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 sighted 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 and Mary is unable to accept that she is addicted to morphine.

History of Play

Upon its completion in 1942, O'Neill had a sealed copy of the play placed in the vault of publisher Random House, and instructed that it not be published until 25 years after his death, and never performed.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. It was first produced on Broadway and 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:

"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 dead 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

Productions

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 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 Broadway debut of Long Day's Journey Into Night took place at the Helen Hayes Theatre on November 7, 1956. 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 1957 Tony Award for Best Play and Best Actor in a Play (Fredric March).

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).

Film Adaptation

The play was made into a 1962 film starring Katharine Hepburn as Mary, Ralph Richardson as Tyrone, Jason Robards, Jr. as Jamie, Dean Stockwell as Edmund, and Jeanne Barr as Cathleen. The movie was directed by Sidney Lumet. At that year’s Cannes Film Festival Richardson, Robards and Stockwell all received Best Actor awards, and Hepburn was named Best Actress. Hepburn’s performance would later draw a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Other Notable Productions

• 1971, Promenade Theatre (Broadway), New York; with Robert Ryan (Tyrone), Geraldine Fitzgerald (Mary), Stacy Keach (Jamie), James Naughton (Edmund), and Paddy Croft (Cathleen). Directed by Arvin Brown.

• 1971, National Theatre, London; with Laurence Olivier (Tyrone), Constance Cummings (Mary), Denis Quilley (Jamie), Ronald Pickup (Edmund), and Jo Maxwell-Muller (Cathleen). This production would be adapted into televised version, which aired March 10, 1973; the cast was as above, excepting the substitution of Maureen Lipman (Cathleen). The TV version was directed by Michael Blakemore and Peter Wood.
• 1976, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY; with Jason Robards, Jr. (Tyrone), Zoe Caldwell (Mary), Kevin Conway (Jamie), Michael Moriarty (Edmund), and Lindsay Crouse (Cathleen). Directed by Jason Robards, Jr.
• 1982, ABC-TV; with an all African-American cast of Earle Hyman (Tyrone), Ruby Dee (Mary), Thommie Blackwell (Jamie), and Peter Francis-James (Edmund).

• 1986, Broadhurst Theatre (Broadway), New York; with Jack Lemmon (Tyrone), Bethel Leslie (Mary), Kevin Spacey (Jamie), Peter Gallagher (Edmund), and Jodie Lynne McClintock (Cathleen). Directed by Jonathan Miller. A television version of this production was aired in 1987.

• 1988, Neil Simon Theatre (Broadway), New York; with Jason Robards, Jr. (Tyrone), Colleen Dewhurst (Mary), Jamey Sheridan (Jamie), Campbell Scott (Edmund), and Jane Macfie (Cathleen). Directed by José Quintero. This production ran in repertory with O’Neill’s play Ah, Wilderness! (in which the author’s youth and family are depicted as he wished they had been), featuring the same actors. Dewhurst was also the real-life mother of Campbell Scott (by her marriage to actor George C. Scott).

• 1991, National Theatre, London; with Timothy West (Tyrone), Prunella Scales (Mary), Sean McGinley (Jamie), Stephen Dillane (Edmund), and Geraldine Fitzgerald (Cathleen). Directed by Howard Davies.

• 1995, Stratford Festival of Canada, Stratford, Ontario; with William Hutt (Tyrone), Martha Henry (Mary), Peter Donaldson (Jamie), Tom McCamus (Edmund), and Martha Burns (Cathleen). Directed by Diana Leblanc. This production was made into a film in 1996, directed by David Wellington.
• 2000, Lyric Theatre, London; with Jessica Lange (Mary), Charles Dance (Tyrone), Paul Rudd (Jamie), Paul Nicholls (Edmund), and Olivia Colman (Cathleen).
• 2003, Plymouth Theatre (Broadway), New York; with Brian Dennehy (Tyrone), Vanessa Redgrave (Mary), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Jamie), Robert Sean Leonard (Edmund), and Fiana Toibin (Cathleen). Directed by Robert Falls.

Sources

• eOneill.com, accessed February 7-11, 2005
• The Internet Broadway database, accessed February 7, 2005
• Scottish Theatre Archive, accessed February 8-9, 2005