Eugene O’Neill, whom many would consider America’s greatest playwright, was not known as a political pundit. Yet, many of the themes he explored as much as a century ago, though not overtly political, have a keen relevance and timeliness, particularly those of lost opportunity and the ability either to rise above one’s circumstances of birth or blame outside, uncontrollable forces.
“If O’Neill were alive today, he’d have a wealth of material to draw from, wouldn’t he?” said Triad Stage artistic director Preston Lane. “I’m sure he would be writing some amazing plays.”
“Anna Christie,” Triad Stage’s latest offering, is a prime example. In this case, the outside, uncontrollable force is the sea. According to Lane, who is also directing the play, the lead character, Chris Christopherson, “blames everything on the sea.
“The sea becomes a fatalistic force that always seems to be controlling his life. The difficulties (the characters) get into is when they try to fight against the forces; as they try to keep resisting the sea, they keep getting drawn back.”
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The conflict is not only between him and the sea, but also with his estranged daughter, the title character, whom he abandoned as a child because, according to Lane, “he felt it better for her not to know someone associated with the sea. He left her on a farm with a pretty horrible family, so there’s a lot of anger toward him for abandoning her. And he has an enormous amount of guilt.”
Complicating matters further, a sailor mysteriously washes up on the coal barge they are aboard, and a love interest eventually blossoms between the daughter and the sailor.
“Now that she’s back in his life, he desperately does not want her to marry a sailor,” Lane said. “So not only is there a conflict between their guilt and anger, but also a rivalry for her affections between the father and the sailor.”
The play, set in 1910 and written in 1920, earned O’Neill the second of his four Pulitzers (including one posthumously in 1957). He was also awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1936. He was, no doubt, drawing from personal experience in “Anna Christie” and several other plays. After dropping out (or getting kicked out) of Princeton after one year, he joined the Marine Transport Workers Union and worked aboard cargo vessels for several years.
Although he suffered from depression and alcoholism, his love of the sea provides an intriguing counterbalance, a sort of love-hate relationship. And it is that relationship that forms the central theme of “Anna Christie.”
“It’s really about people who have enormous desires,” Lane said. “They want a different life than they have, yet they’re trapped in circumstances beyond their control.”
The play, like many of Triad Stage’s productions, features both local and New York actors. Making their debut are Gardner Reed as Anna and Matthew Flynn Bellows as her love interest, Mat Burke. Gordon Joseph Weiss, no stranger to local audiences, plays Christopherson.
The play opens Sunday and runs through March 2, with the official opening night on Feb. 14.
Contact Ogi Overman at overmanogi@gmail.com.
