The Iceman Cometh

Informationen zum Autor Eugene O'Neill was an American dramatist. His poetically themed plays were among the first in the United States to use realism drama techniques, which had previously been associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August Strindberg. The tragedy Long Day's Journey into Night, along with Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire and Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, is frequently featured in lists of the best American plays of the twentieth century. He received the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature. O'Neill is the only author to have won four Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. O'Neill's plays were among the first to feature talks in American English vernacular and characters from the margins of society. They try to retain their ambitions and objectives, but eventually succumb to disillusionment and despair. Only one of his few comedies has received widespread recognition. Almost all of his other plays contain some element of sorrow and personal pessimism. O'Neill was born on October 16, 1888, in the Barrett House hotel at Broadway and 43rd Street, in what was then Longacre Square (now Times Square), New York City. A commemorative plaque was first installed there in 1957. The location is presently filled by 1500 Broadway, which contains offices, retail, and the ABC Studios. Klappentext "Spellbinding--soaring theater--. For reasons that remain mysterious, it seems especially moving today."--The New York Times 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. Zusammenfassung "Spellbinding--soaring theater--. For reasons that remain mysterious! it seems especially moving today."-- The New York Times 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. ...

Klappentext

"Spellbinding--soaring theater--. For reasons that remain mysterious, it seems especially moving today."--The New York Times

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.