Long Day's Journey Into Night - Programme, 2012
Title
Long Day's Journey Into Night - Programme, 2012
Date
5 March 2012
Description
Selected pages from programme for Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill, starring David Suchet & Laurie Metcalf
What's the story?
Long Day’s Journey Into Night is a semi-autobiographical play by Eugene O’Neill (1888 – 1953), written in 1941, but not opening on Broadway until three years after O’Neill’s death in 1956, when it won the Tony Award for Best Drama.
In 1957 O'Neill posthumously received the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the play.
Telling the story of disintegration of the Tyrone family over the course of one day, the play is regarded as one of the finest American works of the twentieth century and the patriarch role of James Tyrone has been played by actors such as Laurence Olivier (National Theatre, 1971) and Jason Robards (Brooklyn Academy of Music, 1976).
David Suchet is one the UK’s finest stage actors, although he is best known for his portrayal of Agatha Christie’s Poirot on TV and played Tyrone in this production.
Playing Mary Tyrone was Chicago based actress Laurie Metcalf. Metcalf was a member of the famous Steppenwolf Theatre Company and played the role of Jackie on the long-running sit-com Roseanne.
Whilst Suchet was perhaps the big draw for a UK audience and received excellent reviews, Metcalf’s performance as the morphine addicted Mary perhaps drew more praise:
“The Chicago-based Laurie Metcalf, last seen in London in a National Theatre production of All My Sons, is even more of a revelation. She steadfastly refuses to poeticise Mary, and instead charts, with infinite precision, the degrading progress of her drug dependence. Initially simulating a chirpy gaiety, she falls apart as the day proceeds, lapsing into violent mood swings and a stream of consciousness.
Metcalf's eye for detail is also shown in the way she instinctively flinches when James goes to caress her heavily injected left arm. I've rarely seen a performance that indicated so clearly both the rooted solitude and delusional nature of addiction.”
Michael Billington in The Guardian, 10 April 2012
Also in the cast were Trevor White and Kyle Soller. It was directed by Anthony Page and designed by Lez Brotherston.
This was a prestigious production for the Theatre Royal, as the show toured to a small number of regional venues, before transferring to the West End at the Apollo Theatre in London.
David Suchet was to visit the Theatre Royal again quite soon following this visit.
In 2013 he chose the Theatre Royal Nottingham to launch his tour promoting his book Poirot and me, about his time playing the iconic Belgian detective.
In 2015 he played Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest in another pre-West End tour.
2015 was the Theatre Royal’s anniversary year and during his visit Suchet unveiled a plaque, supported by Nottingham Civic Society, to Charles Phipps and Frank Matcham, the two architects and designers of the Theatre Royal.
In 1957 O'Neill posthumously received the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the play.
Telling the story of disintegration of the Tyrone family over the course of one day, the play is regarded as one of the finest American works of the twentieth century and the patriarch role of James Tyrone has been played by actors such as Laurence Olivier (National Theatre, 1971) and Jason Robards (Brooklyn Academy of Music, 1976).
David Suchet is one the UK’s finest stage actors, although he is best known for his portrayal of Agatha Christie’s Poirot on TV and played Tyrone in this production.
Playing Mary Tyrone was Chicago based actress Laurie Metcalf. Metcalf was a member of the famous Steppenwolf Theatre Company and played the role of Jackie on the long-running sit-com Roseanne.
Whilst Suchet was perhaps the big draw for a UK audience and received excellent reviews, Metcalf’s performance as the morphine addicted Mary perhaps drew more praise:
“The Chicago-based Laurie Metcalf, last seen in London in a National Theatre production of All My Sons, is even more of a revelation. She steadfastly refuses to poeticise Mary, and instead charts, with infinite precision, the degrading progress of her drug dependence. Initially simulating a chirpy gaiety, she falls apart as the day proceeds, lapsing into violent mood swings and a stream of consciousness.
Metcalf's eye for detail is also shown in the way she instinctively flinches when James goes to caress her heavily injected left arm. I've rarely seen a performance that indicated so clearly both the rooted solitude and delusional nature of addiction.”
Michael Billington in The Guardian, 10 April 2012
Also in the cast were Trevor White and Kyle Soller. It was directed by Anthony Page and designed by Lez Brotherston.
This was a prestigious production for the Theatre Royal, as the show toured to a small number of regional venues, before transferring to the West End at the Apollo Theatre in London.
David Suchet was to visit the Theatre Royal again quite soon following this visit.
In 2013 he chose the Theatre Royal Nottingham to launch his tour promoting his book Poirot and me, about his time playing the iconic Belgian detective.
In 2015 he played Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest in another pre-West End tour.
2015 was the Theatre Royal’s anniversary year and during his visit Suchet unveiled a plaque, supported by Nottingham Civic Society, to Charles Phipps and Frank Matcham, the two architects and designers of the Theatre Royal.
Type
Programme
Location of item
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Rights
Theatre Royal & Royal Concert Hall Nottingham
Contributor
Researcher: David Longford
