Nine classic plays from the award-winning American dramatist, plus a selection of his poetry

Eugene O'Neill’s revolutionary 20th century dramas changed the direction of American theatre, introducing European realism and experimental techniques to the US stage. He wrote more than 50 plays, portraying characters on the margins of society and tackling controversial issues, winning a Nobel Prize, and four Pulitzer Prizes.

We open our collection with his magnificent autobiographical magnum opus, Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Described by the playwright as having been ‘written in tears and blood’, it recounts one tragic day in the lives of the Tyrone family, as they struggle with addiction, disease and despair. Next is The Hairy Ape, based on O’Neill’s experiences as a labourer on a transatlantic liner. A Moon for the Misbegotten, the sequel to Long Day’s Journey Into Night, follows grief-stricken alcoholic Jamie Tyrone as he grasps at love under the Connecticut moonlight. Meanwhile, Desire Under the Elms plays out the themes of Greek tragedy in 1850s New England.

Widely considered as O’Neill’s finest work, The Iceman Cometh is an epic tale chronicling the pipe dreams and shattered illusions of a group of no-hopers in a seedy New York bar. It is followed by another Manhattan-based drama, Hughie. Divided into three parts Mourning Becomes Electra retells the story of The Oresteia, Aeschylus’ tragedy of passion, murder, suicide, revenge and a family destroyed by Fate. In contrast, the comedy Ah, Wilderness! is a sentimental portrait of young love and small-town domesticity. And in Anna Christie, a prostitute finds a chance for redemption when she is reunited with her estranged sea-captain father and falls in love with a sailor.

Also included is a bonus programme, The Quest for the Golden Girl, featuring some of O’Neill’s comic and romantic poems, read by John Fellows and Denis Lawson.

NB: These pieces contain language that reflects attitudes of the age

First published 1920 (Anna Christie),1922 (The Hairy Ape), 1925 (Desire Under the Elms), 1931 (Mourning Becomes Electra), 1933 (Ah, Wilderness!), 1940 (The Iceman Cometh), 1941 (Hughie), 1941-43 (A Moon for the Misbegotten), 1956 (Long Day’s Journey Into Night)

Production credits
Written by Eugene O’Neill

Long Day’s Journey Into Night
Cast: Irene Worth, Patrick Magee, Neil McCallum, Robert Howay, Jan Edwards
Adapted for radio by Colin Tucker
Produced by Ronald Mason

The Hairy Ape
Cast: Dominic West, Shaun Dingwall, Jim Norton, Sasha Pick, Annabelle Dowler, John Guerrasio, John Kay Steel, Joe Montana, Matt Addis, David Hargreaves, Stephen Hogan, Benjamin Askew and Philip Fox

Directed by Toby Swift

A Moon for the Misbegotten
Cast: Sarah Badel, Ian Hendry, Nigel Stock, Blain Fairman, Eric Allan
Directed by Martin Jenkins

Desire Under the Elms
Cast: Robert Beatty, Sarah Badel, Kerry Shale, William Hootkins, Garrick Hagon, Leonard Fenton, Stephen Rashbrook, Jennifer Piercey, Eric Stovell
Fiddle played by Robin Williams
Adapted for radio by Michael Bakewell
Directed by Ronald Mason

The Iceman Cometh
Cast: Anthony Jackson, David March, Haydn Jones, Brian Hewlett, Cyril Shaps, Paul Whitsun-Jones, Henry Stamper, John Hollis, Tommy Duggan, Francis de Wolff, Margaret Robertson, Ann Murray, Carol Mason, George Margo, Ray McAnally, Wilfrid Carter
Adapted and produced by Charles Lefeaux

Hughie
Starring Ronald Herdman, Ray McAnally, Cyril Shaps
Produced by Charles Lefaux

Mourning Becomes Electra
Cast: Nigel Stock, Barbara Jefford, Sarah Badel, John Turner, Kerry Francis, Jane Knowles, Brian Haines, Diana Olsson, Hilda Schroder, Barbara Jefford, Peter Marinker, Peter Carlisle, Manning Wilson, Terry Scully, Ramsay Williams, Peter Carlisle
Produced by Martin Jenkins

Ah, Wilderness!
Cast: Miriam Karlin, Hilda Kriseman, John Gabriel, Leroy Lingwood, Robert Beatty, Carol Mason, Brian Hewlett, Haydn Jones, Christopher Bidmead, Barbara Mitchell, Peter Baldwin, Leonard Fenton, Patricia Leventon

Produced by Charles Lefaux

Anna Christie
Cast: Malcolm Hayes & David Peel, Macdonald Parke, Eric Anderson, Laidman Browne, Aletha Orr, Constance Cummings, Liam Redmond

The Quest of the Golden Girl
Poems read by Don Fellows and Denis Lawson
Compiled and produced by Matthew Walters