University of Virginia Library

"Long Day's Journey Into Night"

One of the saving graces of this
theatre season now ending has been
the number of first-rate revivals it
has had to offer. Having seen and
endorsed "A Doll's House" back in
January, 1 finally caught up with its
partner in repertory. "Hedda
Gabler," and was even more
impressed with it. Claire Bloom,
who was good as Nora, is, I think,
better as the neurotic, childish,
impetuous Hedda, sending a chill
through your body with her cold
beauty. And the Phoenix Theatre's
production of Moliere's "The
School For Wives," which is due to
close the end of the month, is a
delightful evening of classic
comedy. But perhaps the most
significant revival this season is that
of Eugene O'Neill's
autobiographical masterpiece,
"Long Day's Journey Into Night,"
which has just opened and which
constitutes an evening of theatre
that no one interested in American
drama should bypass.

The play, which condenses into
one day all of the mounting tragedy
of O'Neill's early family life, has
been treated gently, respectfully,
and admirably by director Arvin
Brown, who ever so slowly builds
the friction of the characters'
interrelationships and the sad
inevitability of their personal fates
until the two collide head-on in the
final act and the drama reaches its
emotional crescendo.

Robert Ryan plays James
Tyrone, the father and once
promising actor, and with only a
few exceptions when he isn't able
to rise to the demands of this
frustrated character, does
splendidly. Geraldine Fitzgerald
makes the slow transition from coy,
loving mother to incurable
morphine addict with a great sense
of maternal charm and innocence,
as she falls into self-destruction. In
Stacy Keach's portrayal of O'Neill's
hedonistic, semi-alcoholic older
brother, we see a portrait of a
wasted life, magnificently painted
by another of the theatre's most
underrated acting talents. And in
James Naughton's exquisitely
understated playing of the young,
sickly O'Neill, we clearly see the
seeds of the man who was to later
blossom into America's greatest
dramatist.

It's a very long evening — almost
four hours in length — but we can
forgive O'Neill for his verbosity in
appreciation for the finely drawn
characterizations of whom he called
"the four haunted Tyrones." This,
my friends, is American theatre just
about at its best.