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If you aspire to work in the American theater, it is essential that you have delved into the works of the big three: Williams, Miller, and O'Neill. I managed to hold off on the last one for as long as possible. Oh my goodness, O'Neill can be dreadfully boring. He is undeniably brilliant, but there's no escaping the fact that his plays can be a bit of a slog. Take Desire, for instance. Picture these elm trees. Beneath them stands a house. And within that house, people are consumed by passion for one another, or desire, if you prefer. Do you get the picture? But in all seriousness. If I were to actually see this play performed, I'd probably get quite into it. And although I might gripe a great deal after leaving the theater, while I was there, I'd be completely engrossed. Because despite being considered a work of realism, it is incredibly melodramatic. With elements like infanticide, forbidden love, and desire galore. And it's also highly symbolic, with the elms and the land representing deeper meanings. So, I've read O'Neill. And I know I need to read more of his works, but there's a reason why his plays aren't performed as often as they could be: they're long and they can be boring. That being said, there's also a reason why he is constantly taught: he was incredibly prolific, he experimented with all the major styles of theater during his time, and he played a crucial role in introducing realism and expressionism to America.
