Desire Under the Elms

[ellen_datlow]

Last night I saw O'Neill's Desire under the Elms, with which I was not familiar. Even not having seen an earlier production, I could tell that this one was most likely unusual, as the set was filled with boulders and rocks--rocks hanging from the above, rocks all around, and two brothers hauling rocks as if they were animals. The house is held up by ropes above the stage and occasionally lowered onto the ground. This is not a hospitable land. It's meant to be New England in the mid nineteenth century. The music, when used, is dissonant and portentous and very effective. The overall feeling is grim.

Two older brothers (portrayed as dolts) and a younger brother by a different mother are waiting on the farm for their father to return. He left two months earlier on a mysterious mission....to bring back a woman, which he does.

The father is hard and seemingly heartless. He's played by Brian Dennehy, who is very good. He brings back Abbie, about whom we know little but that she wants to belong and she wants the farm (for what it's worth). So does Eben, the youngest son--dad doesn't want to give it up to anyone and claims he'll live till he's 100. (he's around 70). Abbie is played by the remarkable Carlo Gugino, who was excellent in the Marilyn Monroe role in the revival of Arthur Miller's After the Fall a couple of years ago. Eben is played by Pablo Schreiber (brother to Liev--Rick Bowes told me this, but I hadn't believed him at the time) and is pretty good.

It's no spoiler to reveal that Abbie and Eben fall for each other with an intensity that is thrilling to behold, and what ensues is both horrible and inevitable. I was left feeling sorry for Eben and Abbie but not the father, and I'm wondering if that's intentional. He created monsters by his inattention, his uncaring, his hardness.

It's fascinating to read what some critics have to say--that it's all about greed. I don't see the greediness but I see need in the characters. The need to own something--Eben and his brothers (and their mothers who have been worked to death) are like slaves to Ephraim, their father, who seems happiest among his cows in the barn. He needs no humans other than to keep the farm running.

I'm now curious to see another production of the play (I could read it of course, but nah--while I used to read plays a lot in high school during study hall-which took place in the school library I haven't felt compelled to since then).

Comments

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

I saw that production when it opened in Chicago. At first I wasn't sure I liked the sort of stylised acting, but by the end thought it fit very well. I agree with you, that it's about need, but also there's that dark irony (trying to avoid spoilers) of what finally happens--which could only happen because Abbie and Eben didn't really know each other, and ultimately could focus only on their own needs, not even each other's, really.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

I forgot to mention that the accents seemed all over the place and that I had a hard time "hearing/understanding" what was being said at the beginning.

Yes, about the irony. Absolutely.

[rick1844.livejournal.com]

I didn't believe that about Pablo Shreiber at the time either. You mean to tell me it's true?

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Yes. I looked him up on the Imdb!

[dasenergi.livejournal.com]

You could always rent the DVD too, starring Burl Ives as Ephraim, Sophia Loren as Anna, and Anthony Perkins as Eben.

[robinbailey.livejournal.com]

The movie version with Anthony Perkins and Sophia Loren and Burl Ives is a terrific classic. Perkins was young and still fresh when he played the role of Eben, and he was mesmerizing on-screen. Sophia Loren was quite excellent. But Ives - he was a vastly under-appreciated actor.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Sounds worthwhile. I've added it to my netflix queue. Thanks.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

At first I thought...what an odd choice of actors... but then I mulled over it... sounds like it could work.

[lizardlez.livejournal.com]

This play is one of O'Neill's attempts to put Greek tragedy into a nineteenth-century American context. (The title of his "Mourning Becomes Electra" is more obvious.)I've read the play and wasn't sure how it would play out, so to speak, on the stage or screen. (Gritty regional/historical realism or watered-down Sophocles?) I'll rent the movie.