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New Group Stages O’Neill
Lili Taylor stars in auteur’s unedited, four-and-a-half-hour Mourning Becomes Electra
Jena Malone and Lili Taylor star in Eugene O’Neill’s classic tragedy Mourning Becomes Electra
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In 1931, Eugene O’Neill’s Mourning Becomes Electra rocked the New York theater scene. The New York Times called it “a classic tragedy laced with Freudian themes, an unparalleled tale of adultery, obsession, murder and madness.” Its sting remains sharp, which is why The New Group will stage the O’Neill classic uncut. Be forewarned: Mourning Becomes Electra, based on the Aeschylus play Oresteia, is 4½ hours long. O’Neill set the Greek drama of incest, jealousy and vengeance in New England in the aftermath of the Civil War. But unlike the ancient myths, where characters are at the mercy of fate, O’Neill’s characters, a Northern general’s family, are driven by the internal forces of psychological demons.
This revival, which opens February 19, has two interesting notes: Lili Taylor, who has appeared in numerous film and TV shows, including High Fidelity and Six Feet Under, plays matriarch Christine Mannon. It also features original music by Grammy-winning international jazz virtuoso Pat Metheny. Scott Elliott, the New Group’s artistic director, directs. While the production stays true to O’Neill’s Freudian obsessions, the music adds a distinctly modern touch.
Yet it’s useful to understand the production’s background; Mourning is considered by many scholars to be among O’Neill’s best tragedies. Mourning Becomes Electra is actually a compilation of three plays—Homecoming, The Hunted and The Haunted—all done in one setting, ergo the length. And because it’s heavily influenced by Freudian theories, the deep, complicated relations between daughter/father, mother/son and sister/brother are harrowing.
When General Ezra Mannon (Mark Blum) and his son Orin (Joseph Cross) return from the Civil War, they find their family in strife. Mother and daughter Lavina (Jena Malone) are waging war on the home front. The daughter is loyal to her father, prepared to protect him at all costs, even as secrets and deceptions threaten to obliterate them.
For O’Neill, Mourning provided a modern approximation of the Greek sense of destiny. The setting, post-Civil War, bridges the chasm between ancient and modern. It allows audiences to identify the tragic in their national history. Given our own sense of national and economic travails, which are reaching epic proportions, Mourning Becomes Electra speaks anew.
O’Neill, one of the most important dramatists of the 20th century, was the only American playwright to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature. His Long Day’s Journey Into Night, A Moon for the Misbegotten and The Iceman Cometh were all recently revived on Broadway.