Long Day’s Journey into Night. A conversation with designer Patrick Du Wors.

Long Day’s Journey into Night. A Conversation with Designer Patrick Du Wors. 

Next up for Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre is Eugene O’Neill’s classic Long Day’s Journey Into Night (May 10-22, 2016).

Set and costume designer Patrick Du Wors has a long history with Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre—he was the designer for the 2009 inaugural season—As You Like It, Death of a Salesman and The Fantasticks—designed A Street Car Named Desire in 2010, Fire (2011), Little Shop of Horrors (2012), My Fair Lady (2013) and True West–the company’s first production at the Roxy (fall 2013).

Although many people will compare classics like Death of a Salesman and A Street Car Named Desire to Eugene O’Neill’s masterpiece Long Day’s Journey into Night, for Du Wors there is an added element of realism and naturalism to the latter.

Long Day’s Journey into Night is much more spare, it’s very dialogue driven; there are hardly any props referred to in the script, and very little business for the actors” says Du Wors.  “What is similar, in regards to design, is that the plays deal with very complex psychological states.  My designs, particularly the set, reflect the inner psychology of the characters”.

“The Roxy is an intimate space and it affects the level of detail required in the props and the costumes.”

Design includes lighting and for Du Wors it’s been interesting to see how far his fellow designer, Rebekah Johnson, has been able to push the possibilities of lighting in the space at the Roxy.  “We’ve evoked a dreamscape—fog is often mentioned in the script.  The wallpaper is actually a scrim, lit from behind to get a reveal effect.  Actors can be in the fog or the fog can tell a story of its own with the light.”

For Du Wors, the work of the designers is to support the work of the performer so they are free to do their best work, and to reach the audience on an emotional and visceral level.

When I asked him what was going to surprise the audience about Long Day’s Journey into Night he replied “The language is drop-dead gorgeous with a rare poetry. From a design perspective I’ve created an unconventional ground plan—in part to make the inner psychological aspects work, and in part because of the architecture of the Roxy.  The costumes are firmly grounded in 1912.”

When it comes to creating theatre, he says “what I love working with director Brian Richmond, is that he believes the greatest sin in theatre is to be boring”.  With the many awards and accolades received by Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre over the years, audience members can be guaranteed the production of Long Day’s Journey into Night will be memorable on every level.

The semi-autobiographical Long Day’s Journey into Night has long been considered O’Neill’s act of forgiveness to his damaged, dysfunctional family – a family he loved very deeply. Etching the minute detail of a single day in 1912, the play is an unrelenting look at the lives of O’Neill’s great Irish American father, actor James O’Neill, his mother Mary Ellen Quinlan and his troubled brothers James Jr. and Edmund. The play is set in a summer home in Connecticut and takes place within a single day.

O’Neill received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1936, the first American playwright to receive the honour. After completing the play in 1942, O’Neill placed a sealed copy in the Random House vault with instructions that it not be published until 25 years after his death. O’Neill’s third wife Carlotta Monterey transferred the rights of the play to Yale University after O’Neill’s death, nullifying the agreement to delay publication. As a result the play was published in 1956, only three years after his death and earned a Pulitzer Prize in 1957.

Long Day’s Journey into Night by Eugene O’Neill, directed by Brian Richmond
May 10 to 22 at the Roxy, 2657 Quadra Street.
Tickets $20-$42 online at www.bluebridgetheatre.ca or by calling the new box office at 250-381-3370.

In person tickets sales are available at Blue Bridge’s home the Roxy Theatre from Tuesday to Saturday 10 am to 2 pm.

To accommodate the three hour plus running time, Blue Bridge has moved the curtain time to 7 pm for all evening performances and to 1 pm for all matinees except Sunday which retains a 2 pm start time.

Production team

Director Brian Richmond
Set and Costume Designer Patrick Du Wors
Lighting Designer Rebekah Johnson
Composer & Sound Designer Brooke Maxwell
Stage Manager Mel Watkins

Cast

David Ferry James Tyrone Sr
Kyra Harper Mary Tyrone
Jacob Richmond James Tyrone Jr
Elliott Loran Edmund Tyrone
Kathleen O’Reilly Colleen