Beyond The Horizon

One hundred years ago the Pulitzer Prize for Drama went to Eugene O'Neill for Beyond The Horizon, which would be the first of three Pulitzers for him. I've read a lot of O'Neill, but never read this one before, and while it has some of the tropes of O'Neill's work, it also has some of the drawbacks.

Originally written in 1918 while O'Neill was in the Provincetown Players, Beyond The Horizon is about two brothers. Robert is frail and given to reading poetry. Andy is more robust, and works the farm that they live on. In the first scene it is the night before Robert is to go off with his uncle on a merchant ship. We get the meaning of the title, in some overblown dialogue:

"Supposing I was to tell you that it's just Beauty that's calling me, the beauty of the far off and unknown, the mystery and spell of the East, which lures me in the books I've read, the need of the freedom of great wide spaces, the joy of wandering on and on—in quest of the secret which is hidden just over there, beyond the horizon?"

But when Ruth, a girl that is friend to both the boys, declares her love for Robert, he decides to stay. Andy, who had thought Ruth loved him, decides he will go off on the ship, which destroys his father, who assumed Andy would always stay and work the farm. The brothers swap destinies, essentially.

Later, in scenes that show a passage of years, Ruth and Robert become bitter enemies. Andy flourishes at sea, and then becomes a wheeler-dealer living in Argentina. Meanwhile the farm, under Robert's incompetence, falls apart.

O'Neill did write one comedy but almost all of his work is grim, and Beyond The Horizon is no exception. Shattered dreams abound in this work, and no one comes out happy. It's as if happiness is an impossibility for his characters. Some call it the first American tragedy.

One of the interesting aspects of the writing is the incredibly detailed stage directions and descriptions of the characters. Consider this one: "Her small, regular features are marked by a certain strength—an underlying, stubborn fixity of purpose hidden in the frankly-appealing charm of her fresh youthfulness." How is an actor supposed to play that?

O'Neill is perhaps the greatest of American playwrights, but he was a downer. He bathed in misery, and this play is a good example of that. Ruth, in the third act, recites her lines without much feeling--"dully" is the adverb O'Neill uses to describe her lines, as if she has completely given up.

The last major production of this play seems to have been on PBS in 1975. I'm not sure if this play would be welcome in today's world. Certainly plays such as The Iceman Cometh and Long Day's Journey Into Night, which are also completely depressing, are frequently revived because they have a grandeur about them, a horrifying glimpse into Hell. Beyond The Horizon isn't up to that level, and seems more like a curiosity than anything else.