Elysium Theatre to tour O'Neill masterpiece
- Alan Hulme
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Directing Eugene O'Neill's American masterpiece Long Day's Journey Into Night is the fulfilment of a long-held dream for theatre director Jake Murray.
The artistic director of Durham-based Elysium Theatre Company said: "I grew up reading O’Neill and this play has always been one of my favourites. My father [Braham Murray] directed it for the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester when I was 14, and directing this now myself is the fulfilment of a lifelong dream.
“This is our most ambitious production yet. One of the world’s greatest plays, it's usually the preserve of the most experienced and well-resourced companies in the world. It is what theatre should be – moving, beautiful, life-affirming and to be doing it with these actors and bringing it to audiences we have got to know so intimately as we built up Elysium over these years is a real honour and a thrill. We believe it will strike a chord and I cannot wait to see what people think of it!’
The story is set in August 1912: the Tyrones gather in the family home on the New England coast. After years of separation, they are reunited again, full of hope for the future. Set across a summer day, the four main characters grapple with the realities and consequences of their failings, representing O’Neil’s own very real struggles with his family – a mother with a drug addiction, an embittered alcoholic father, and two maladjusted brothers.
Published posthumously, Long Day's Journey premiered in Sweden in 1956, followed by Broadway the same year, winning the Tony award for best play. It was last staged in the UK in London in 2024 starring Brian Cox, but until the rights became available recently, it has seldom been possible for it to tour regionally.
Starring in Elysium’s production are company co-founder Danny Solomon as Jamie, the family’s eldest son; Edmund Dehn as patriarch James Tyrone, and Sarah Dorsett as Mary Tyrone, his long-suffering wife and recovering morphine addict.
Long Day’s Journey Into Night kicks off a three-week tour of the North East and North West on May 12 in Hexham, and concludes on May 30 at the Dukes, Lancaster. Full details on the link below.
More info and tickets here
