For a play which the author insisted was never to be performed in his lifetime, and hoped would never be performed at all, Long Day’s Journey Into Night could hardly be described as rarely produced. Here it is again at the Wyndham’s Theatre, just six years since Jeremy Irons and Lesley Manville brought the Tyrone family to life in the very same theatre.
This time it has Jeremy Herrin at the helm as director, and an impressive cast that will be sure to draw audiences in. And let’s be honest, Eugene O’Neill’s semi-autobiographical piece does need star power, because despite a three hour plus running time, there’s not a lot of story.
The title pretty much sums up the plot. It follows one family, for one (long) day in the summer of 1912. The Tyrone’s are a fairly accurate representation of O’Neill’s own family, with himself painted as Edmund, the youngest brother (though he wasn’t in real life).
The father, James Tyrone, was a promising young actor who has made a small fortune by performing the same role in The Count of Monte Cristo, but is now widely derided for cashing in over displaying artistic courage. Followers of O’Neill will see the similarities with his own father.
James Jr is also a promising actor, but spends all his money on drink and whores, displaying none of his father’s frugality. Mary, James Jr and Edmund’s mother, is worried sick about her consumptive son, but the whole family is more concerned with her prescription medicine addiction. And poor Cathleen (Louisa Harland), the maid, has to listen to it all, while trying in vain to get meals on the table at the right time.
What Long Day’s Journey Into Night lacks in story, it makes up for with protracted whisky fuelled arguments. Every character in the play is disappointed in the shortcomings of the other characters, and in that way it is perhaps one of the most accurate representations of family life ever written.
Across four acts, while the family spend their day at their summer house in Connecticut, secrets are revealed. It’s a drawn out process, but in Herrin’s production the audience hang on every word. The slowly unfolding nature of the play might feel like nothing much is happening, and you do need to peel back the layers to really see the self destructive nature of this family.
Lizzie Clachan’s set, clad in light coloured wood, gives the impression of a family who are comfortable, but resisting any hint of luxury as a result of James’s penny-pinching. It gives us a chance to focus on the character development which isn’t in short supply here.
Laurie Kynaston and Daryl McCormack bring good fraternal energy. McCormack is especially strong in the latter part of the play, when a night of drinking loosens James Jr’s tongue. Kynaston has to maintain a longer stint, but still manages to tease out the sense of fear, resentment, and resignation that comes with Edmund’s illness.
Patricia Clarkson is a wonderful ball of nervous energy as drug addicted Patricia, confusion and concern swirling through every word spoken. Leading the cast, Brian Cox is magnificent as James Tyrone, and you can hear a pin drop every time Cox delivers a line.
This is a fine production of Long Day’s Journey Into Night, and Herrin’s direction keeps it feeling relatively fresh. Perhaps it’s because of just how close to the bone O’Neill’s writing is that audiences still flock to see it, just as the Tyrone family always return to whisky and disappointment.
