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In the summer of 1939 at the age of 50, Pulitzer
and Nobel Prize-winning playwright Eugene O'Neill began work on what
he called "a play of old sorrow, written in tears and blood," finally
summoning the courage to write an autobiographical masterpiece that
confronted the truth about his own family. In this powerful
new interpretation from Canada's Stratford Festival, director David
Wellington's film adaptation of O'Neill's searing drama maintains
the production's theatrical intimacy, featuring shattering performances
by William Hutt as James Tyrone, Martha Henry as his wife Mary, Peter
Donaldson as James Jr., and Tom McCamus as O'Neill's alter ego Edmund.
Writer Gerald Jonas interviews director David Wellington; reviews the life and career of Eugene O'Neill; and examines the play's parallels to Eugene O'Neill's life and family.
Click here to explore the Web companion
for this program, which originally aired on September 19, 1999.
Top banner photos: James and Mary Tyrone (William Hutt and Martha Henry); high on morphine, Mary (Henry) wanders downstairs with a lace veil over her head; James Tyrone (Hutt); Edmund (Tom McCamus) and James Jr. (Peter Donaldson).
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Director David Wellington. |
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The youngest of the Tyrones, Edmund (McCamus) learns he is suffering from consumption. |
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