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We’ve not seen a whole lot of Brian Cox on stage since the veteran actor’s career was given a late turbo-boost after he took on the immortal role of the appalling Logan Roy in Netflix’s wildly acclaimed ‘Succession’.
But with ‘Succession’ now wrapped up, he’s still clearly got something to prove as a stage actor: next spring he’ll take on arguably the greatest stage role in the American canon as another, very different, monstrous father in Eugene O’Neill’s ‘Long Day’s Journey into Night’. Cox plays James Tyrone, a successful but embittered stage actor who has given his entire career over to a single part, and now feels he never got his due.
O’Neill’s epic semi-autobiographical play was only published posthumously, when it netted him the 1957 Pulitzer Prize for drama, and it has rarely been far from our stages since, with recent London productions providing a platform for David Suchet and Jeremy Irons.
It might well be the last major stage role the 76-year-old Cox takes on – it’s the sort of monolithic part that great actors bow out with, content they’ve proved that they still have ‘it’.
Jeremy Herrin will direct a cast rounded out by Patricia Clarkson as matriarch Mary Tyrone, alongside Alex Lawther as Edmund, Daryl McCormack as James Jr and Louisa Harland as Cathleen.
‘Long Day’s Journey Into Night’ is at Wyndham’s Theatre, Mar 19-Jun 8 2024. Tickets go on sale 10am on May 11.
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