These three plays exemplify Eugene O'Neil's ability to explore the limits of the human predicament, even as he sounds the depths of his audiences' hearts.
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These three plays exemplify Eugene O'Neil's ability to explore the limits of the human predicament, even as he sounds the depths of his audiences' hearts.
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17 of 20 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
One of these three great plays by Eugene O'Neill is Strange Interlude which was written in 1923 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928 when it originally ran on Broadway. Its running time is over four hours and it is usually performed with a dinner break. It is a family chronicle, of sorts, following the life of Nina Leeds and her family in a small university town in New England - from her early days as a young woman mourning the loss of her ideal lover during WWI, through her middle age years. It is the story of a family's secret and their determination to keep this secret unknown by others, and sometimes even to themselves. The play's most unusual quality, though, is found in the words that each character speaks. Not only do they converse with each other using naturalistic dialogue, but they also voice their subtext, which is unheard by the other characters in the play, but is heard by the audience. This device brings to the surface the secret life that each character in the play carries with them but is not willing to reveal to others. It creates, in the audience, as if it were another character in the play, a "sharer" of these stage characters' secrets. Through it all we view the lives of these characters with a fondness, and we root for them. Perhaps we root for them because we know, very much, why they are doing the things they do to each other.
The two other plays are well worth the experience of reading and/or seeing on stage. Mourning Becomes Electra, based on the Greek Electra myth, is especially wonderful. Its set in post civil war america and like Strange Interlude its length makes it a rare theatre treat to see performed on stage.
10 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By A Customer
Format:Paperback
I'm new to reading drama, but I have never seen anything quite like "Srange Interlude." In this experimental work, O'Neill actually takes the reader into the thoughts of the characters, by not only thier dialogue or gestures, as in most works, but by letting the characters think their streams of thought aloud.
The plot is extremely well developed, though it's tinged with cliche at times. It centers around a mentally unstable woman groping for happiness and the happiness of her four lovers, each lovers in diffferent senses of the word. The first is her high school sweetheart, killed in the war. The second is her lifelong friend. the third is her husband, and the fourth is her doctor. Each have their quirks and instabilities, which make this play a strange interlude, indeed.
The plot is extremely well developed, though it's tinged with cliche at times. It centers around a mentally unstable woman groping for happiness and the happiness of her four lovers, each lovers in diffferent senses of the word. The first is her high school sweetheart, killed in the war. The second is her lifelong friend. the third is her husband, and the fourth is her doctor. Each have their quirks and instabilities, which make this play a strange interlude, indeed.
Format:Paperback
O'Neill's "Mourning Becomes Electra" is astounding. The plot is timeless, the characters are amazingly drawn, and the dialogue is as brilliant as anything he ever wrote. The only problem with the play is that, like everything he wrote, his themes are exhausting because they're so heavy. This play is no exception.
By pinkkhippos
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I bought this book for school reading (Is it just me or do books seem to cost so much more now?) and it was used, but inside was free of any highlighting or annotating. Cheap price for a book that you're only going to read once.
This is one of these books that I had bought (second hand) thinking distractedly that O'Neill was a pretty big gap in my theater reading and that I should eventually read something that he has written. I've actually only ever seen The Hairy Ape staged, and that by The Wooster Group. If you've ever seen a Wooster Group production, you'll understand that while it is bound to be an experience, it isn't generally an experience which is not necessarily going to tell you much about the play itself. Or, more accurately, it is not going to tell you the usual things about the play itself.
In any case, O'Neill.
First I read Desire Under the Elms. My reaction was (honestly) a shrug and a mental het zal wel Interesting play, kind of typical melodrama from the period. (I am positive that there are O'Neill scholars out there who can explain to me why this is Not So, and why I am an unlettered barbarian. But there you go.) Insight into the Desire of Woman. Father-son epic struggle. Death. Despair.
But then I got to Strange Interlude. Oh, I hated it. I hated O'Neill. I hated the coy technique of sharing the Real Innermost Thoughts of the characters. It was like he took Nina who was already in a cage-- the cage of her time, the cage of being written by a creep of an author-- and then he squared the cage by pretending to have access to her real thoughts. It is a *long* play, and reading it was like having fingers scraping on a chalkboard for its length. I hated it so much that I thought that he did Oona a favor by disowning her. I actually even hated it so much that I wanted to stage it myself so that I could pull the frame out and break it by including scenes from O'Neill's own life. It was not pretty.... Read more ›
In any case, O'Neill.
First I read Desire Under the Elms. My reaction was (honestly) a shrug and a mental het zal wel Interesting play, kind of typical melodrama from the period. (I am positive that there are O'Neill scholars out there who can explain to me why this is Not So, and why I am an unlettered barbarian. But there you go.) Insight into the Desire of Woman. Father-son epic struggle. Death. Despair.
But then I got to Strange Interlude. Oh, I hated it. I hated O'Neill. I hated the coy technique of sharing the Real Innermost Thoughts of the characters. It was like he took Nina who was already in a cage-- the cage of her time, the cage of being written by a creep of an author-- and then he squared the cage by pretending to have access to her real thoughts. It is a *long* play, and reading it was like having fingers scraping on a chalkboard for its length. I hated it so much that I thought that he did Oona a favor by disowning her. I actually even hated it so much that I wanted to stage it myself so that I could pull the frame out and break it by including scenes from O'Neill's own life. It was not pretty.... Read more ›
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Just as described. Got it super-fast and just in time for daughter's school project. Would definitely recommend this book to others.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Three Plays: Desire Under The Elms, Strange Interlude, Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O'Neill
September 22, 2010
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Only needed one play, but am delighted to have all three.
The book arrived in very good condition and - as usual - in a most timely manner.
THANKS!
The book arrived in very good condition and - as usual - in a most timely manner.
THANKS!
0 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By I Like Books
Format:Paperback
Its the only play i read in the book. It was an interesting read. The dialect is sometimes hard to understand, only a few words though.
The play is fast moving and interesting. The scandalous Eben-???(dont want to ruin it for you) relationship is unexpected and dramatic. Perhaps too dramatic, in a rome and juliet complex.
The play is fast moving and interesting. The scandalous Eben-???(dont want to ruin it for you) relationship is unexpected and dramatic. Perhaps too dramatic, in a rome and juliet complex.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
mourning becomes elektra
Oneill, death death death, this is rereleased in vintage 1958,
mourning becomes electra , strange interlude, required reading
for all playwrights of our era.
mourning becomes electra , strange interlude, required reading
for all playwrights of our era.
Published on November 9, 2001 by T. P. Russell
5.0 out of 5 stars
THREE MASTERPIECES
Each of the three plays in this volume are beautiful in their own way, with a poignant message that you'll be the better for hearing. Read more
Published on February 14, 2001 by Ponderous one
5.0 out of 5 stars
need some ideas
i need a thesis for a paper on strange interlud
Published on September 27, 1999
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 5
books:
- Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O'Neill in Front Matter, and Copyright
- A Touch of the Poet by Eugene O'Neill in Front Matter
- Mourning Becomes Electra: A Trilogy by Eugene O'Neill in Back Cover
- A Moon for the Misbegotten by Eugene O'Neill in Front Matter
- Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill in Front Matter
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