Strange Interlude | Preface, in Eugene O’Neill: The Man and His Plays
In the following essay excerpt, Clark provides an overview of Strange Interlude, using his acquaintance with O’Neill to discuss the playwright’s intent and the ‘‘dramatization of the motives of his people.’’
STRANGE INTERLUDE
When I saw O’Neill in June, 1926, he told me about one of the new plays he was working on. The idea sounded preposterous: there were to be nine acts, and all the characters were to speak their thoughts aloud, with no regard for the ordinary conventions of the theater or of normal social intercourse.
‘‘And why not?’’ he asked. ‘‘Everything is a matter of convention. If we accept one, why not another, so long as it does what it’s intended to do? My people speak aloud what they think and what the others aren’t supposed to hear. They...
[The entire page is 1959 words long]
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