Elysium Will Present Northern Premiere of LONG DAYS JOURNEY INTO NIGHT on Tour

Elysium will mark the 70th Anniversary of Eugine O'Neill's seminal autobiographical masterpiece – Long Days Journey Into Night – with a three-week northern kicking off in Hexham on May 12th. Often regarded as the greatest American drama of the 20th Century, this Pulitzer Prize-winning play is rarely performed outside of London and Broadway until now. Elysium's stunning new production directed by Jake Murray will make its northern premiere in many of the venues along the tour.

August 1912: the Tyrones gather in the family home on the coast of New England. After years of separation, they are reunited again, full of hope for the future. But as day passes into night their love will be tested to the utmost as the ghosts of the past come to haunt them and they all are drawn back into a past they hoped to escape. Set across one single summer's day, the four main characters grapple with the realities and consequences of their failings, representing O'Neil's very own real struggles with his family – a mother with a drug addiction, an embittered alcoholic father and two maladjusted brothers.

The play, published posthumously in 1956, is widely regarded as O'Neill's magnum opus. It premiered in Sweden in February 1956, followed by Broadway the same year winning the Tony Award for Best Play. It was last staged in the UK in London in 2024, starring Brian Cox but until the rights became available, it has seldom been possible to tour regionally until now.

Starring in Elysium's production are company stalwart and co-founder Danny Solomon as Jamie the family's eldest son; Edmund Dehn as the family patriarch James Tyrone and Sarah Dorsett as Mary Tyrone – his long-suffering wife and recovering morphine addict. Daniel Bradford plays youngest son Edmund (O'Neil's self-portrait) and introducing Darlington up and coming actress Macy Stasiak as Cathleen - one of the family's housekeepers. Macy makes her adult professional theatre debut in this role. She made her professional stage debut in the West End as a child playing Debbie Wilkinson in Billy Elliot aged 9.

Jake Murray, Artistic Director of Elysium and Director of this production felt keenly that now was the time to take this great play on the road and introduce this phenomenal playwright to wider audiences across the north of England.

He comments: “Long Day's Journey' is our most ambitious production yet. One of the world's greatest plays, usually the preserve of the most experienced and well-resourced companies in the world, which we are now bringing to the people for the first time in a generation, if not the first time ever and we are so excited and proud of this. I grew up reading O'Neill and this play has always been one of my favourites. My father directed it for the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester when I was 14, and directing this now myself is a fulfillment of a lifelong dream. It is what theatre should be – moving, beautiful, life-affirming and to be doing it with these actors and bringing it to this audience which we have got to know so intimately as we built the company up over these years is a real honour and a thrill. We believe it will strike a chord, and I cannot wait to see what people think of it!'

Long Day's Journey Into Night kicks off its three week tour of the North East and North West on Tuesday 12 May in Hexham and concludes on Saturday 30 May in Lancaster.

TOUR DATES:

WEEK 1

Tuesday 12 May 7pm – Queen's Hall Arts, Hexham –  Long Day's Journey Into Night | Queen's Hall Arts Centre – NORTHERN PREMIERE

Wednesday 13 May 7pm – Southpaw Dance Studios, Sunderland  – https://southpaw.org.uk/longdaysjourneyintonight

Thursday 14 May 7pm – Town Hall Theatre, Hartlepool   –  Long Day's Journey Into Night – NORTHERN PREMIERE

Friday 15 May 7pm – Northern Stage, Newcastle – Long Day's Journey Into Night | Northern Stage

Saturday 16 May 7pm – Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond  – Georgian Theatre Royal, Richmond, Yorkshire | Long Day's Journey into Night – NORTHERN PREMIERE

WEEK 2

Monday 18 May 7.30pm – Ushaw House, County Durham  – Long Day's Journey Into Night - Ushaw: Historic House, Chapels & Gardens – NORTHERN PREMIERE

Tuesday 19 May 7pm – Gala, Durham  –  Long Day's Journey Into Night – NORTHERN PREMIERE

Thursday 21 May 7pm – Alnwick Playhouse  – LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT - Alnwick Playhouse – NORTHERN PREMIERE

Friday 22 May 7pm – Empty Space Theatre, Gr Manchester -   LONG DAYS JOURNEY INTO NIGHT by Eugene ONeill at The Empty Space, Salford on 22nd May, 2026

WEEK 3

Monday 25 May 7pm – Princess Alexandra Auditorium, Yarm –   The Princess Alexandra Auditorium & Friarage Theatre, Yarm Long Day's Journey into Night - The Princess Alexandra Auditorium & Friarage Theatre, Yarm – NORTHERN PREMIERE

Tuesday 26 May 7pm – The Witham, Barnard Castle -  Long Day's Journey into Night (10+) - The Witham – NORTHERN PREMIERE

Wednesday 27 May 7pm – Washington Arts Centre Sunderland  – Long Day's Journey Into Night | Sunderland Culture – NORTHERN PREMIERE

Thursday 28 May 7pm – Theatre 41, York –  Theatre@41 Monkgate | Public

Friday 29 May 7.30pm – Dukes, Lancaster  – Long Day's Journey Into Night › The Dukes

Saturday 30 May 7.30pm – Dukes, Lancaster  – Long Day's Journey Into Night › The Dukes