In this episode, we vacation with the Tyrone family in their one-set, one-day, one-plot domestic tragedy. Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night delivers much of the traditional tragic play: personal flaws that drive us to make bad decisions, blindness that ignores the obvious warning signs, and a feeling of inevitable impotence and inability to change our circumstances. What it doesn’t deliver, though, is any of the expected relief tragedy should capitalize on: there’s no catharsis for our characters or for us in the audience. O’Neill wants us to spend a day in his shoes, living with his childhood family and witnessing the self-destructive nature of our own tendencies. For this journey, I’m bringing in a new co-host who has a great eye and a sensitive ear for just this kind of family dilemma.

Second Stage is a Free Zone Radio production. You can find our show on Spotify alongside our other podcast, With Honors

on Spotify:

Apple Podcasts

on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCweufFHJbylu4tR598SDj5w

Also, throw some love at our brotherly podcast with Coach Haston, A Deadman’s Books. He’s on Spotify at

Apple Podcasts

as well as Haston Curation, on Spotify at

This episode’s music features “Caught in the Middle” by Amarent and “Flea Bop” by Mr. Smith, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial license.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit secondstagepodcast.substack.com