It was Eugene O’Neill's wish that his masterpiece would not be published until after his death, and it’s no mystery why: the piece is a frank portrayal of his own youth, overshadowed by his mother's addiction and his father’s and brother’s alcoholism. Yet, it also attests to the deep love and sympathy binding the family members together, presenting a heartrending portrait of four people unable to live with – or without – each other.

Long Day’s Journey into Night chronicles a single day in the life of the Tyrone family. From sunrise to sunset, we follow the parents James (Gijs Scholten van Aschat) and Mary (Marieke Heebink) and their two sons Jamie (Ramsey Nasr) and Edmund (Roeland Fernhout) in their struggle against each other and against the demons from their past.



While the mother denies her morphine addiction, the other family members keep silent about the youngest son’s tuberculosis. Each family member seems incapable of facing up to the reality that they are all living lives of self-deception and unfulfilled dreams.

‘In the hands of these four actors counterpoised nuances are brought to life exquisitely’. Telegraaf ****

‘It is masterly how actors Marieke Heebink, Gijs Scholten van Aschat, Roeland Fernhout and Ramsey Nasr expose all the various layers of their parts. And their acting is as finely tuned as a miniature painting: executed with the utmost precision, from the depths of their being and with compassion for their characters’. Trouw ****

‘Van Hove made the right decision to let every actor maintain their own style, which allows this foursome of family members to evolve into solo-play with a hypersensitive Marieke Heebink, an imperious Gijs Scholten van Aschat, a tenderness-craving Roeland Fernhout and an embittered Ramsey Nasr. Each represents their unique answer to the deception life offers them’. Theaterkrant ****

‘It’s fabulous to experience how these phenomenal actors have developed their parts so much that you end up sympathizing with all these characters who are hopelessly orbiting one another, each fighting their own demons’. Elsevier

‘Director Ivo Van Hove has forged Lange dagreis naar de nacht into an impressive performance which gives centre stage to the actors. A grand achievement.’ Scènes ****

‘Masterly actors in a sketch of human inability’ Trouw ****

Director Ivo van Hove has a special relationship with Eugene O’Neill. With Het Zuidelijk Toneel, he successfully directed Mourning Becomes Electra, Desire Under the Elms and More Stately Mansions. With Staatstheater Stuttgart, he directed Desire Under the Elms, More Stately Mansions with the New York Theatre Workshop (Obie Award best director), Strange Interlude with the Münchner Kammerspiele and with Toneelgroep Amsterdam, the acclaimed Mourning Becomes Electra. Van Hove in de Volkskrant: ‘I always call him the American Shakespeare. Many of his plays are autobiographical, everything makes sense, nothing is made up, but it is still the great art of theatre. He can turn the most personal story into a universal tale. Apart from that, he is one of the few people who succeeded in building up a large oeuvre, while writing in different styles. From peasant dramas to the so-called sea plays, switching from a naturalistic style to an expressionistic one. And he loves digging around in the deepest crypts of the soul. In this context, he writes about ‘realism of the soul’, which does not mean you have to stage it realistically, that is often misunderstood. It purely means that he looks for the level of truth in that which goes on in people’s souls. For me, he is the playwright who expresses this idea in the most personal, universal, but at the same time also the most extreme way. This is why I am drawn to him once every couple of years.’