Word: edmund
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...next encounter--was with Edmund Wilson, who stopped me in the hall "Hello, hello," he said in his wonderfully high and thrilling voice that sounds like a coaching horn. "I read that book of yours ITI found the first page quite amusing, about the mouse, you know. But I was disappointed that you didn't develop the theme more in the manner of Katka...
Tyrone, meanwhile, has injured every member of his family with his unrelenting stinginess, having lost his grand chance of becoming a great Shakespearean actor. When Mary was ill after giving birth to Edmund, he hired a cheap, incompetent doctor who introduced her to morphine and whose improper medical care caused Edmund's serious tuberculosis...
...partly in rebellion against his money grubbing father that Jamie refuses to make good and flaunts his habit of frequenting bars and beds of whores. In addition, Jamie resents Edmund, always "Momma's baby, Poppa's pet", who now show budding writing talent. Edmund, meanwhile, apart from suffering consumption, blames his very existence on his mother's drug addiction. To escape from their troubles, the men spend late hours drowning themselves in alcohol, while Mary glides about smothered in morphine, dreamily praying to the Blessed Virgin as she did as a schoolgirl...
...righteous and defensive towards his sons. But his mannerisms and reactions are too stiff and blatant. He gapes to show he's shocked, shouts to show he's angry. He fails to convey Tyrone's appealing undercurrent of charm, or any of his amusing qualities. When he pontificates to Edmund about wasting electricity, only permitting one absurd bulb to be lit, Walker seems so serious, so genuinely frantic, the underlying humor does not come through...
Justin Richardson's controlled portrayal of a complex and sympathetic Edmund--the character who represents O'Neill himself--is undoubtedly the play's most powerful performance. He despairs for his parents and brother, but his tenderness for them is plain. His occasional flares of morbid poetry, betraying his artistic sensitivity, grip and startle us. He delivers his lines naturally, with an occasional stammer or peevish whine. Hunching his shoulders, dragging his feet, he even looks like a weary consumptive. His multifaceted portrayal is believable and compelling throughout...