Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Bristol Old Vic

BAM Harvey Theater

May 12, 2018

Photo courtesy of Bristol Old Vic & Brooklyn Academy of Music

The Bristol Old Vic production of Long Day’s Journey Into Night is now playing at Brooklyn Academy of Music.  The cast is truly amazing, bringing new insight to Eugene O’Neill’s well-known characters.  Jeremy Irons masterfully plays James Tyrone and Lesley Manville vividly portrays his wife, Mary.  Matthew Beard and Rory Keenan set the stage ablaze as brothers Edmund and Jamie.  Jessica Regan is biting and sarcastic as Cathleen, their summer maid.  Directed by Sir Richard Eyre, this production brings vibrant depth and dimension to the tragic relationships depicted in this American classic.

The cast of Long Day's Journey Into Night
Photo courtesy of  Bristol Old Vic & Brooklyn Academy of Music

Long Day’s Journey Into Night is Eugene O’Neill’s autobiographical tragedy.  Not produced until after his death, it chronicles a day in the life of characters modeled after his family.  Each bares their soul, whether out of sorrow, jealousy, or spite, revealing the impetus of their individual downfall.  James Tyrone, a once admired matinee idol, is now aging and holding onto his glory days.  His son Jamie is his biggest disappointment.  Jamie both loves and hates his brother Edmund, who is sick with consumption and preparing to enter a sanitarium.  The most brutal of truths for all of them to face is that Mary, the matriarch of the family, is a morphine addict, overwhelmed by pain and regret, too far gone in denial to face the needs of her family.  Her line, “The past is the present… and it is also the future,” succinctly defines the despair in the hearts of all the characters.

Matthew Bears & Rory Keenan
Photo courtesy of Bristol Old Vic & Brooklyn Academy of Music

Lesley Manville, as Mary Tyrone, brilliantly slingshots from denial into the present moment with dangerous urgency.  Her performance is heartbreaking and genuine.  Jeremy Irons dominates the stage, as the character of James Tyrone requires.  He pulls the others characters into cohesiveness, making strong demands and setting excessive expectations that push them over the edge.  Rory Keenan portrays Jamie as robust and reactionary.  Matthew Bears’ Edmond is deeply introspective and sensitive.  The scene between these brothers in the latter portion of the play is emotionally riveting and dramatically impactful.  It heightens the sense of solitude and isolation each character confronts on a daily basis.

Lesley Manville, Set Design by Rob Howell
Photo courtesy of Bristol Old Vic & Brooklyn Academy of Music

Fast paced from the start, these actors embody the work of Eugene O’Neill for three hours and twenty minutes, unearthing heart wrenching layers of truth.  The set, designed by Rob Howell, has transparent walls that allow the action of each scene to be enveloped by the sunrise, the sunset, and eventually disappear into the fog.  Long Day’s Journey Into Night is playing at BAM Harvey Theater through May 27.   

Domenick Danza

Long Day’s Journey into Night

Long Day’s Journey into Night

Roundabout Theatre Company

American Airlines Theatre

April 16, 2016

Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night is presently in previews at the American Airlines Theatre.  The production has the high level of quality we have come to expect from Roundabout Theatre Company.  Under the bold direction of Jonathan Kent is a stellar cast lead by Jessica Lange and Gabriel Bryne.  Combine that with incredible sets and magnificent costumes and what you get is an event worthy of this American classic.

Act I opens with laughter as the Tyrone family start the day with breakfast, happy that Mary (played by Jessica Lange), has returned from a short absence.  As the morning progresses, their true family dynamic begins to surface.  Mary is clearly in denial about the possible illness of her younger son, Edmund (played by John Gallagher Jr.).  Her husband, James (played by Gabriel Bryne), freely voices his disappointment with their older son, Jamie (played by Michael Shannon), who responds with a palpable, cold indifference.  All three men look at Mary with concern that she is too quickly falling back to the problem that caused her previous absence.  In Act II the seriousness of Edmund’s illness and Mary’s drug addiction is revealed.  In Act III and Act IV we find out the source of the despair of each member of this family.  By the time the day’s journey ends, the level of their hopelessness is evident and overwhelming.

Gabriel Byrne & Jessica Lange
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Act III is when Jessica Lange rises up and commands the stage.  She illuminates Mary Tyrone’s past as she tells her maid (played by Colby Minifie) about her school days in the convent, the adoration of her father, and when she first met and fell in love with her husband.  We gain a sentimental insight into the idealistic beliefs and disillusioned life that causes her denial.  She heartbreakingly shares the events that brought her to addiction.  Her loneliness, suffering, and desperate need for relief from pain are deeply understood.  Just when you are convinced her husband is a self-centered miser, Gabriel Bryne imparts a truthful exposition of the experiences that triggered James Tyrone’s disappointments and motivate his behavior.  Michael Shannon stumbles in drunk during this scene and tears open Jamie’s defensive façade with a brutally honest confession to his brother.  The caring and compassionate side of his character is revealed and the need for his hard, outer shell is understood.  John Gallagher Jr.’s Edmund does not stop fighting back, yet carries a strong sense of victimized defeat.  It is in his authentic portrayal that Eugene O’Neill’s deeper themes are accurately represented.    

  

The cast of Long Day's Journey into Night
Jessica Lange, Gabriel Bryne, Michael Shannon, & John Gallagher, Jr.
Photo courtesy of Roundabout Theatre Company

Roundabout Theatre’s production of Long Day’s Journey into Night runs through June 26 at the American Airline Theatre on 42^nd Street.  With a running time of four hours, including one fifteen minute intermission, it is definitely a long journey, yet with masterful performances that provoke and develop true human pathos from Eugene O’Neill’s dense text, it is a journey worth taking. 

Domenick Danza