Long Day's Journey into NightDramatens stora scen, 1988 In 1988, during Dramaten's 200th anniversary and one hundred years after O'Neill's birth, Ingmar Bergman was asked to stage Long Day's Journey into night.Not surprisingly, directorial vision and artistic quality rather than timely circumstances determinate Bergman's success. On opening night there were standing ovations that would not stop until Bibi Andersson, Jarl Kulle, Thommy Berggren and Peter Stormare stood clapping around an empty chair, to indicate the Bergman would not come up to stage. |
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Bergman had never before staged an O'Neill play, though he once had thoughts of producing the 9-act drama Strange Interlude, and had been asked by New York producer Joseph Papp, in the early 70s, to do an O'Neill production with Liv Ullmann in the lead, but had declined.
In 1988, the 1956 production still lived on as a classical highlight in Dramaten's history. Its legendary actors Inga Tidblad and Lars Hansson seemed virtually present in Bergman's cast. Bergman said in an interview. 'Behind Bibi Andersson's voice I can suddenly hear Inga Tidblad's. Behind Jarl Kulle's Lars Hansson's, besides, Kulle can tell us what it was like back then. We are nothing in and of ourselves, we are always part of something.'
In the same interview Bergman talked about the harrowing experience of working with O'Neill's drama:
'Early on, when I looked at our task, in a routine fashion, I realize it would not be an easy journey. But I never realized how deeply revolutionary it would be for all of us. The play touches at strong personal experiences in different ways and at the same time it must not become a kind of private striptease. A certain type of drama, for instance Long Days Journey into Night, has a dark downward attraction. If you finally come down to the level where the demons live who have triggered the drama, you cannot remain free of them. They get to us too.'
Bergman reduced O'Neill's text considerably, removing most references to the father's shady affairs and omitting some drunken jokes and various literary allusions.
The unwritten question before Bergman's production was how he would stage the play so that it would have the same impact on the audience as 32 years earlier but without seeming to be repeat performance- 'Thus Bergman has to find some kind of meaning in the play that exceeds the original performance situation'.
Birgitta Steene, Ingmar Bergman: A Reference Guide (Amsterdam University Press, 2005)