Eugene O'Neill mined the tragedies of his own life for this depiction of a seedy, skid row saloon in 1912, peopled by society's failures: worn-out anarchists, failed con artists, drifters, whores, pimps, and informers. The pipe-dreaming drunks of Harry Hope's bar numb themselves with rotgut gin and make grandiose plans, while waiting for the annual appearance of the big-spending, fast-talking salesman, Hickey. But this year's visit fails to bring the expected good times, as a changed Hickey tries to rouse the barflies from their soothing stupor with a proselytizing message of salvation through self-knowledge.
Considered by many to be the Nobel Prize-winning playwright's finest work, The Iceman Cometh exposes the human need for illusion as an antidote to despair. The recent gripping, critically acclaimed Broadway production, starring Kevin Spacey, has highlighted anew the subversive genius of O'Neill's play.
"Spellbinding—soaring theater. For reasons that remain mysterious, it seems especially moving today." —The New York Times
WINNER
| 1936 Nobel Prize
Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953) is one of the most significant forces in the history of American theater. With no uniquely American tradition to guide him, O’Neill introduced various dramatic techniques, which subsequently became staples of the US theater. By 1914 he had written 12 one-act and two long plays. Of this early work, only Thirst and Other One Act Plays (1914) was originally published. From this point on, O’Neill’s work falls roughly into three phases: the early plays, written from 1914 to 1921 (The Long Voyage Home, The Moon of the Caribbees, Beyond the Horizon, Anna Christie); a variety of full-length plays for Broadway (Desire Under the Elms, Great God Brown, Ah, Wilderness!); and the last, great plays, written between 1938 and his death (The Iceman Cometh, A Moon for the Misbegotten). O'Neill is a four-time Pulitzer Prize winner, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1936.
View titles by Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill mined the tragedies of his own life for this depiction of a seedy, skid row saloon in 1912, peopled by society's failures: worn-out anarchists, failed con artists, drifters, whores, pimps, and informers. The pipe-dreaming drunks of Harry Hope's bar numb themselves with rotgut gin and make grandiose plans, while waiting for the annual appearance of the big-spending, fast-talking salesman, Hickey. But this year's visit fails to bring the expected good times, as a changed Hickey tries to rouse the barflies from their soothing stupor with a proselytizing message of salvation through self-knowledge.
Considered by many to be the Nobel Prize-winning playwright's finest work, The Iceman Cometh exposes the human need for illusion as an antidote to despair. The recent gripping, critically acclaimed Broadway production, starring Kevin Spacey, has highlighted anew the subversive genius of O'Neill's play.
"Spellbinding—soaring theater. For reasons that remain mysterious, it seems especially moving today." —The New York Times
Awards
WINNER
| 1936 Nobel Prize
Author
Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953) is one of the most significant forces in the history of American theater. With no uniquely American tradition to guide him, O’Neill introduced various dramatic techniques, which subsequently became staples of the US theater. By 1914 he had written 12 one-act and two long plays. Of this early work, only Thirst and Other One Act Plays (1914) was originally published. From this point on, O’Neill’s work falls roughly into three phases: the early plays, written from 1914 to 1921 (The Long Voyage Home, The Moon of the Caribbees, Beyond the Horizon, Anna Christie); a variety of full-length plays for Broadway (Desire Under the Elms, Great God Brown, Ah, Wilderness!); and the last, great plays, written between 1938 and his death (The Iceman Cometh, A Moon for the Misbegotten). O'Neill is a four-time Pulitzer Prize winner, and he was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature in 1936.
View titles by Eugene O'Neill
