ABSTRACT The Prompt Scripts for the 1985 Abbey Theatre Production of Long Day’s Journey Into Night, discovered during an archival research trip to the Abbey Theatre archive at the National University of Ireland, Galway, appear to solve the conundrum of this lambasted production. Despite the star-studded cast and director, the production was universally lampooned by contemporary critics, especially for a lack of attention to its Irish dimension, a curious phenomenon as noted by prominent O’Neill scholars such as Edward Shaughnessy. A thorough examination of the prompt scripts revealed that the production had cut significant portions of the play related to James Tyrone Sr.’s childhood experiences with poverty and eviction. This article argues that the removal of these sections and subsequent negative critical reception reveal that the core theme and emotional power of the play originate from these themes of land-based struggles.

ABSTRACT This interview is an in-depth discussion, from a performance perspective, with internationally acclaimed Tony Award–winning director Robert Falls. Falls reflects on his many productions of Eugene O’Neill’s plays, including A Touch of the Poet (1995–96), The Iceman Cometh (1991; 2011–12), Long Day’s Journey Into Night (2002), Desire Under the Elms (2008–09), and Hughie (2004–05). Falls also produced an international Eugene O’Neill Festival (2011–12) at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre and produced the transfer to Broadway of A Moon for the Misbegotten (2000) starring Gabriel Byrne and Cherry Jones. Falls worked with actor Brian Dennehy on all the previously named O’Neill productions and with other actors such as Vanessa Redgrave, Nathan Lane, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robert Sean Leonard, Pamela Payton-Wright, and John Douglas Thompson. Visually, Falls allows himself to move freely between realism, surrealism, and an epic painterly expressionism when directing, depending on what he believes a given O’Neill play requires.