Desire Under the Elms

Sparked by the dark hollows and brilliant imaginings of his subconscious, master playwright Eugene O’Neill conceived Desire Under the Elms as he slept one night, resulting in a work with the powerful emotional pitch of a fever dream. Elder Ephraim Cabot returns to his remote New England farm with his third wife—the young, alluring, headstrong Abbie—setting his three disapproving grown sons on an emotional rollercoaster and bitter fight for their inheritance. When Ephraim’s youngest son Eben sets his sights on Abbie, the resulting tempest brings tragic consequences. First produced in 1924, Desire Under the Elms hauntingly mingles love and loathing, and has been praised for its “poetry and terrible beauty” (The New York Times).