About the work
Comedy by Eugene O'Neill, originally titled "Ah, Wilderness!", written in 1932 and first performed on 2 October 1933 at the Guild Theatre in New York, with George M. Cohan in the lead role of Nat Miller. It is O'Neill's only well-known comedy and was, at the time, his most commercially successful play.
Plot
In the Miller family of small-town New England in 1906, the rebellious son Richard clashes with the genteel expectations of those around him over Independence Day, temporarily splits from his girlfriend Muriel, and drifts into a disreputable bar. In the end he reconciles with Muriel and receives fatherly advice, while Uncle Sid's alcoholism lends the family a darker undertone.
Cultural significance
Unlike O'Neill's otherwise mostly bleak family dramas, "Ah, Wilderness!" offers a reconciled picture of middle-class family life, which made it one of his most frequently performed plays, still popular today with regional and amateur theatres. In German-speaking countries it is available in two translations published by S. Fischer Theater.