Characters

James Tyrone (Gillian)    

    Husband and father, James Tyrone, is a sixty-five year old Broadway actor of Irish descent. He is 5’8” with a deep chest, grey hair and light brown eyes that make him appear ten years younger. James Tyrone is the provider of the family. At home, he is a stingy alcoholic who spends more money buying real estate investments than paying for a good doctor to treat his youngest son. However, he sincerely loves his wife and cares for both of his sons. Tyrone’s character shows the audience/reader the cycle of drug abuse him and his wife suffer. O'Neill's stage directions in Act IV pg 127 describes Tyrone as trapped and defeated. “But despite all the whiskey in him, he has not escaped, and he looks as he appeared at the close of the preceding act, a sad, defeated old man, possessed by hopeless resignation.” His strength of acting is taken over by his two main weaknesses, money and alcohol. Gabriel Byrne from The Usual Suspectsmatches James Tyrone’s character as they are both of Irish descent and look fairly ‘young’.

Mary Tyrone (Thando)

Mary is a fifty four year old Irish woman, about medium height. She has a healthy figure, but her face is thin and pale, and her bone structure is permanent. She struggles with a morphine addiction that has lasted over twenty years. Mary is on morphine throughout the entirety of the play. Although she has periodically stopped using morphine, she always goes back to it. Mary was full of regret because she let go of her dreams to marry James. Meryl Streep would be a good fit for Mary Tyrone because she matches some of the description of Mary, and in the movie Mamma Mia, she had similar personality traits as Mary, like nervousness.

Edmund Tyrone (Chris)

Edmund has been depicted as a smart, handsome young man with a tall, skinny figure. He has big, dark, eyes and brushed, straight, brown hair. Edmund is also depicted as very smart from referencing many sources of literature. “They never come back! Everything is in the bag! It’s all a frame-up! We’re all fall guys and suckers and we can’t beat the game!... Nietzsche. You don’t know what you are talking about. You haven’t read him.” Edmund also seems to be the most innocent out of all the cast with all his issues like tuberculosis and Jamie’s jealousy coming from outside sources, making nothing truly his fault. He is clearly the most likeable and relatable character in the play. A great match to represent Edmund in any future plays can be Jim Parsons from The Big Bang Theory. He matches the description of Edmund’s looks fairly well and plays an intelligent, likable character in the show. The only thing that doesn't match as well is that his character in the show is unreasonable and stubborn, however he would be able to change his acting for this role.