EUGENE O’NEILL [ 1888 – 1953 ]

When Eugene O’Neill entered the theatre as a playwright, Broadway consisted mainly of musicals, melodramas and farces, with an occasional ‘quality’ fair from Europe. For O’Neill, the theatre was a very appropriate platform for serious ideas. He began by exploring not only difficult subjects, but also different dramatic styles. He became a major influence on the American Theatre. He used characters, which were thought to be fit only for novels – the derelicts and downtrodden. But in his hands they became powerful. He took the ancient Greek tragedy techniques and blended them beautifully in his plays, providing a much-wanted depth in the American Theatre. As it is aptly said, "Before O’Neill the United States had theatre: after O’Neill, it had drama."