At the Shaw Festival, a case for Eugene O’Neill’s Desire Under the Elms as a Halloween classic
Desire Under the Elms, originally programmed for the summer of 2020 rather than Halloween 2021, has gone through three directors from conception to production because of the pandemic.I can’t recall who first wrote or said that great American plays are all about real estate – butIt begins with Eben and his two older brothers, Simeon and Peter , awaiting the return of their aging, tyrannical father Ephraim from a mysterious trip.
Everything is perverted by lust for land in O’Neill’s play – as you might well argue everything still is in North America. Families tear themselves apart for a plot of dirt, and love becomes questionable or corrupt.directed by Tim Carroll, Bowman, Happer and McCamus expertly give the kinds of performances you might expect with this type of writing – hair-raising, foot-stomping, larger-than-life.
The detached, distanced style makes it feel like there’s something pure and timeless about the relationship that develops between Eben and Abbie, even if they do first consummate it in a doubly incestuous threesome with a ghost. The swooning cinematic underscoring by Claudio Vena clashes with the symbolism of Judith Bowden’s evocative set, which presents not the elms of the stage directions, but a towering piece of wood that’s part gallows, part Christian cross and part driftwood. has gone through three directors from conception to production because of the pandemic – so it’s not totally surprising that the results are a bit choppy, but the unlikely fusion of elements is still fascinating.
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