(Seen at the afternoon performance on 9th July 2025)
Arguably the second best known of Eugene O’Neill’s works, it is deceptively simple. Phil Hogan (David Threlfall) rents a farm from James Tyrone (Michael Shannon). Hogan’s offspring work it until they escape - we see Mike Hogan (Peter Corboy) do so in the first scene.
Only daughter Josie Hogan (Ruth Wilson) is left. As the pair face being outbid for outright ownership by T Stedman Harder (Akie Kotabe), they unite in a crazily drunken plan to save their home of the past 20 years.
Director Rebecca Frecknall ensures that this 1943 piece, first seen on stage in 1957, rises way above the sitcom it could pretend to be. Tom Scutt’s ingenious wooden platform set of random farm machinery and half-discarded furniture provide a chaotic, jaded air flavoured with contentment.
Frecknall encourages her characters similarly. The fighting is fierce between themselves and against the world, the deeds confessed cut deep and under Jack Knowles’s moving spotlight, characters are frozen to the spot as their sins and confusions are illuminated sun-bright.
David Threlfall is never out-of-control even when he believes that he is. An act one exit is one of the finest moments of theatre the monkey can remember. A confession of failure had the monkey shaking its head even through the laughter.
With Ruth Wilson’s careful careless regard for her reputation and shaky relationship with her father and the male gender in general, the pair ratchet up the tension while keeping us onside in their chaotic relationship.
Alone, Wilson reveals several shocks, almost two different women experimenting with life in surprisingly closed conditions.
Michael Shannon as Tyrone is also leading two lives. Broadway man – the whores of New York, the gambling and alcohol edging him towards an early grave. Also a man unable to admit – along with Wilson’s Josie – that there is a bond between them which could flourish in the right circumstances.
Shannon finds weakness in strength, strength in weakness as O’Neill’s fine characterisation and Frecknall’s insistence on simplicity expose ruthlessly every nuance of contradiction. A thrilling long second act delivery is pain shared by and for all present.
Comic relief as the Hogans deal with T Stedman Harder allows Akie Kotabe his moment to shine, his confusion and affront an amusing interlude.
Equally given a moment, Peter Corboy’s departure is heartfelt, his personal ethics proving sharp contrast with how he was raised. A lovely modesty at the final curtain disposes us well to this promising young actor.
Almost three hours slip by observing American farming country resolve its local differences through beautifully honed words delivered with strongly built characters.
Seldom revived in the West End (2 “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” to nil in the last decade), this must be the production to transfer and break the pattern.
5 stars.
Photo credit: Marc Brenner. Used by kind permission of the Almeida Theatre press office.