Long Day's Journey into Night

One of the major plays of the 20th century, Long Day's Journey into Night, was written by Eugene O'Neill based on memories of his own youth. It is not by chance that the playwright bequeathed that this play not be published until a quarter of a century after his death. His wish was not fulfilled, but the reason for the ban is clear — the world-renowned author shared deeply personal memories of his family, none of whose members, except for him, were alive by the time the play was written. And although the play is about the day when he was given his fatal diagnosis, he was the only one of the characters who survived — and became famous worldwide. This occasionally heart-breaking story of people who are close to one another, who both love and torment each other, accuse and justify themselves, remember and suffer, of course, became one of the most popular plays in the world repertoire. It contains both wonderful roles and a bitter, at times hopeless sense of passing time, disappointment, and helplessness in the face of death.

 

Timofey Kulyabin's production moves the action to the present day. However, the autobiographical nature of Eugene O'Neill's work is fully preserved. We see the author's alter ego, the writer Edmund Tyrone, at the very end of his life. Like the playwright, he has become a celebrity, a Nobel, and Pulitzer Prize laureate. Like the playwright, he cannot free himself from painful and obsessive memories of his parents and older brother. We see Edmund Tyrone on the last evening of his life when his own "long day goes into night". Not wishing to endure physical suffering — as modern civilization becomes increasingly independent in matters of life and death — he is not afraid of emotional pain and, in his final hours, wants to once again be with his long-gone loved ones, not just to remember them, but to try to understand them, forgive them, and ask for their forgiveness…