Sarah Underwood— It’s small, it’s lightweight, and it’s a quick read (so you might think) except it’s about “miserable people in miserable families leading miserable lives full of misery” (according to NPR, which, despite the joke, recommends the playwright). This observation about Eugene O’Neill’s Exorcism: A Play in One Act is
There are two types of powerful books. There are those with weight, carried around for weeks, a physical labor of intellectual love. These end in catharsis, followed by a twinge of sadness. And then, there is the rare 80-page wonder that is Virginia Grise’s blu, a play that reads in
Eugene O’Neill has oft been regarded as the greatest American playwright. Born in New York City in 1888, O’Neill’s dark and haunted personality, the least of which was a symptom of his depression, made him a notorious creator of fearless drama. Unafraid to confront societal themes that were popularly regarded