Long Day's Journey Into Night

She doesn't exactly have a great deal of agency of her own though. She exists primarily in relation to the men in her life, and although great actresses make her a compelling watch, it doesn't quite excuse O'Neill's failing to write a completely rounded character in the first place.

Matthew Beard and Rory Keenan join the cast. Jessica Regan comes back too.

Well hello Matthew Beard.

A Pint of Beard please barman

Please can anyone tell me whether this production gives us the complete final act with all the poetry quotations? The last two major productions I saw had almost none of the poetry at all. I can understand the desire of a producer to want to keep running time down to a reasonable commercial length but on the other hand I would love to experience seeing the play that O’Neill actually wrote.

Thanks TallPaul. I didn’t actually know that, so I clearly haven’t been paying attention to my programme notes.
That’s very important because I had not appreciated the importance of the superb production I saw in Sydney in July 1959. After the show I walked back to the city centre with Clive James who drew my attention to the significance of the poetry in the last act. I then bought a copy of the play that I still have and see it is the English edition by Jonathan Cape, June 1956, reprinted 1956 and 1958.

I should probably have added, tonyloco, that O'Neill didn't even want the script published until 25 years after his death, so 1978. His wife over-ruled his wishes, which I always think is a rather dangerous thing to do to dead people, just in case.

I'm going to stop now, lest anyone thinks I'm an O'Neill scholar!

Will Wyndhams be doing day seats for this show?

If you need any psychic readings, I'll be hanging around with my crystal ball outside the Wyndham's.

I saw today's matinee and here there are some thoughts.

It's an uneven production. I loved the staging and the scenery - which is probably making O'Neill spin in his grave, but he didn't even want this play to ever be staged, so who cares. The set is really wonderful, very similar to Eyre's Ghosts, so similar that I was surprised to discover it's a different designer. But apparently it was Eyre's original concept so he can use it whenever he wants - otherwise we would have been very close to plagiarism. It's also very well directed, and the costumes are wonderful.

The acting is a bit of a mixed bag. Rory Keenan is a very good Jamie, but Matthew Beard was pretty bad as Edmund, very declamatory and slightly hysterical. I know it was only the second preview, but there's an awfully long way to go for him, for most of the play he was just dramatically speaking out his line, with very little sense or meaning behind them. Jeremy Irons is, well, bizarre. I find it hard to describe, really. It's not a bad performance, but he does all these puzzling little things, like he has this weird accent or does things with his hands. It's not really a matter of hamming, it's more like he doesn't know how he wants to play the part. There is a lot of mannerism, but it's in the character rather than in the performance, like, he's playing a very theatrical man and Tyrone's theatricality comes across very well during the play. You see a lot of Tyrone the actor, but I wish there were more of Tyrone the man. I remember many of you being unconvinced by his performance in Bristol, and I think I understand now what you meant. Jessica Regan provides comic relief with her Kathleen, she was really lovely and couldn't have been more Irish.

Lesley Manville is extraordinary and delivers an outstanding performance, her Mary Tyrone is one of the most heart-breaking things I have ever seen. She's excellent since the first time she steps on stage, but it's not until her final scene that you realize the magnitude of her performance. There's this moment when she's illuminated by a white spotlight and she looks exactly like the 18 year old girl she's talking about, it's astonishing really. Her phenomenal performance somehow undermines the rest of the show, the quality drops when she's not on stage and you want her back. She makes you wait a lot in the second part, but when she finally returns the payoff is fantastic. The previous scene is not as successful: it's a long dialogue between Edmund and Tyrone, and since the two actors are not at their best the scene never reached its full potential.

It's a four star production for me, and Manville makes it a must-see

PS: The play runs for three hours and a half, the first part lasted 1h20, the second 1h50. It was performed with one interval, between act 2 and 3, but in my opinion it would benefit from a 5 minute break between act 3 and 4.

I wonder why they didn't have 1pm and 7pm start times if the show is 3 and a half hours.

Except the several of about twenty minutes' duration.

yes 3-1/2 is short for a play that normally clocks in around 3 hrs 50 - wonder if they've edited it at all (seems unlikely). Glad to hear Manville is so good - more and more I think this play belongs to Mary Tyrone.