The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O’Neil

 The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O’Neil


 

To my surprise, I have just learned that The Iceman Cometh is appreciated by critics as one of the greatest plays of American Theatre. Not that I did not enjoy it, but had not heard of it, which is not saying all that much and had decided to listen to it, because George Constantin had a role in it.

As part of my reading and listening plan, plays in which our greatest actor had a role are advancing to the top of the list.

He was -and is in recordings- so great, that any material gets other worldly proportions.

The Eugene O’Neill play is excellent, albeit it sounds like a joke, when we look at the characters and the setting:

The characters are:

The owner of a motel and bar, an Italian pimp aka barman, officers who deserted, an African American, a Dutchman and prostitutes…

It is like one of those humorous lines: an Italian walks into a bar.

The main character Hickey has a terrible crime in his past and comes to the bar, after a selling tour, only to torment his pals.

The plot is complex, very interesting and meaningful.

Hickey is placing mirrors in front of this tribe of losers. They drink too much, are involved in crime, hide desertion or/ and fears and anxieties drowned in large quantities of alcohol.

Harry Hope is made unforgettable by a giant actor- George Constantin. Harry keeps saying that he will go for a walk, go out of his saloon, but never makes it.

When Hickey is back from his Long Journey into Night, he claims he is transformed by abstinence and urges the others to face the facts and change.

He insists that Harry goes for a walk to face the world, as soon as the saloon proprietor is out the door, he starts to cringe and comes back shouting – did you that driver…crazy, he should be hanged.

There is some kind of change involving all the misfits: one prostitute wants to get married, the other misfits contemplate different life plans.

Some of these constructions may come true, but there are dramatic events and changes in the perception of Hickey – he appeared as a savior, Messenger even Messiah for a while, only to change his role.

I wonder what the play would look like with my all time favorite in the role of Hickey, which is much more interesting and challenging than Harry’s.

A great play was taken to immense height by a magnificent artist. He is a role model for me: whenever he came on stage he was “greater than life”- inspired awe and if the Gods of Greece had lookalikes, I have seen one.

There was a joie de vivre, a magnificence whish he transmitted. He was compared with Orson Wells and I see Nicholson (from Chinatown, Prizzi’s Honor) in some of the aura and halo hanging overhead.

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