Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Eugene O’Neill: A BBC Radio Drama Collection

By: Eugene O'Neill
Narrated by: Dominic West, Shaun Dingwall, Anthony Jackson, Sarah Badel, Robert Beatty, Nigel Stock, Ray McAnally, Brian Hewlett, full cast
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

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: Some of these pieces contain language and attitudes that reflect the age in which they are set.

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)

Content List

  • Long Day’s Journey Into Night
  • The Hairy Ape
  • A Moon for the Misbegotten
  • Desire Under the Elms
  • The Iceman Cometh
  • Hughie
  • Mourning Becomes Electra
  • Ah, Wilderness!
  • Anna Christie
  • The Quest of the Golden Girl

'If you like the plays of Eugene O'Neill, then there's a lot to enjoy in this comprehensive collection, which provides listeners with almost nineteen hours' worth of material ... His ear for dialogue, brought to life by different generations of excellent actors, ensures that his words are a pleasure to listen to' - Greg Jameson.

©2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd. (P)2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd.
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2
activate_samplebutton_t1

Listeners also enjoyed...

Émile Zola: A BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
Honoré de Balzac: Pere Goriot, The Black Sheep & More cover art
Sophocles’ Greek Tragedies: A BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
Sherlock Holmes: The Complete BBC Collection cover art
Molière: Don Juan, The Miser and More cover art
The Arthur Miller Collection cover art
George Bernard Shaw cover art
Goethe: A BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
The Figaro Plays: The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro and The Guilty Mother cover art
Henrik Ibsen cover art
Trapped cover art
A Taste of Honey & More cover art
Intrigue and Satire: Later Restoration Comedies cover art
Humour and Madness: Early Restoration Comedies cover art
Caryl Churchill: Top Girls, The Skriker, Serious Money, A Number and More cover art
David Edgar: A BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art

What listeners say about Eugene O’Neill: A BBC Radio Drama Collection

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.