The Emperor Jones
First Staged:
New York, 1920; London, 1925

The Emperor Jones

By Eugene O'Neill

An expressionistic chronicle of a black dictator's flight from his oppressed subjects.

Brutus Jones rules his island's citizens from his opulent palace with tyrannical ease – until the day that they all disappear. They have retreated to the hills, following their former native leader Lem, and plan to revolt. It is time for the Emperor to make good his escape.

Eugene O'Neill's play The Emperor Jones was first performed at the Playwrights' Theater, New York, in November 1920. Its UK premiere was at the Ambassadors' Theatre, London, in September 1925.

Press Quotes

'The first serious American play about black experience... a historic landmark and a shattering piece of theatre'

Guardian

Also by Eugene O'Neill:

Desire Under the Elms
The Hairy Ape & All God's Chillun Got Wings
A Moon for the Misbegotten
The Hairy Ape
Long Day's Journey into Night
A Touch of the Poet
The Iceman Cometh
All God's Chillun Got Wings
Anna Christie
Desire Under the Elms & The Great God Brown
Anna Christie & The Emperor Jones: two plays
Strange Interlude
Mourning Becomes Electra
The Great God Brown
Ah! Wilderness

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