Eugene O’ Neill (1888-1953), born in New York, gave a new originality to the stage (teatro) mainly as to (soprattutto per ciò che riguarda) the language and the setting (ambientazione). His plays combine (combinano) realism with expressionism, the metaphysical with the poetic. Set in America they describe the society of the first decades of the 20th century, a society which started being oppressive and dehumanizing (disumanizzante). O’ Neill denounces the fragmentation of families, the difficulty of relationships, the profound racial divisions showing his interest in S. Freud’s theories and Ibsen and Strindberg’s plays. The characters who populate his plays are eternally lost children; they wander (vagabondano) haunted (perseguitati) by pathos, futility and frustration. They become representative of Man, universal figures. O’Neill used stylized settings (ambientazioni stilizzate), masks, strange sound effects (strani effetti sonori), choruses (cori), interior dialogue and dance to intensify his message and stimulate the subconscious of the audience.