Play review – “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” by Eugene O'Neill

One that separates the men from the boys. Powerful masterpiece from Eugene O’Neill – goes for a long time, but not that long, and fairly scorches off the page. Continually defies expectation, as great work often does: dad is an actor, but a busy one, determined not to be poor so buys lots of land, yet mortgages it and often buys poorly; mum is a drug addict, blames it on dad; the two sons blame their problems on dad, and he was cheap – yet they are clearly at fault, too. Jaimie the eldest drinks and lounges to hide his guilt; Edmund (the young O’Neill) has consumption. The play is set in 1912, the year O’Neill tried to kill himself – he went to the sanatorium and got better. Incredible piece of work.