The Sea Plays – review

The Old Vic Tunnels, underneath Waterloo Station, make a thrilling setting for the three short plays that launched Eugene O'Neill's career in 1916 – seen for the first time in 30 years. The atmosphere is claustrophobic and echoing – a good acoustic for foghorns. As Bound East for Cardiff begins, Waterloo's rumbling overhead trains become part of a full-bodied storm. This first play is moving and visceral – about a dying sailor and his mate. We are below decks and cabin fever threatens as we witness a life running out of time. The second play, In the Zone , about suspicion and humiliation, is another pearl. The third, The Long Voyage Home , set in a bar, is garrulous and contrived – the weakest of the three. But this is a tremendous and unusual production, magnificently directed by Kenneth Hoyt, founder of Provincetown Rep (the plays were first performed wharfside in Provincetown). It is well worth becoming a stowaway to see it.