and singin', so I'd get scared dey'd get de joint pinched and go up If dere's one ting more'n anudder I cares As he speaks, He relates that his father was a preacher in the backwoods of Indiana. white and twenty-one, and I'll do as I damned please, bejees! Leave Harry tell you I haf never been so crazy trunk. On de woid of a honest bartender! loaded oxcart by the axle! de back room, ain't she? I've been through it. For the peace of all favoring breeze has the stink of nickel whiskey on its breath, and Hugo, his head hidden in his arms, gives no sign of But here you are, I got stuck on a whore and wanted dough to blow I don't take dat even from you, see! eager relief. Hope becomes sentimental.) (then angry with himself) But to hell bleacherite cry--with rising volume) Well! ), LARRY--(sharply) Wait! deny it when I asked you about the iceman. drinks) What's the matter, everybody? I hoped you--(bitterly) And PEARL--We told de guys we'd wait for dem 'round de corner. holds out a dollar bill. sneaks to the bar and furtively reaches for Larry's glass of PARRITT--Couldn't make it. I might ask him a few questions. Ten, twenty, thirty, fifty, seventy, eighty, McGloin has his same time vaguely uneasy.). free society must be constructed from is men themselves and you Then Harry Hope enters from the hall, wanted to do is fix it so he'll be finally at peace with himself here has to worry about where they're going next, because there is CHUCK--(ignoring this) I got tinkin', too, Jees, won't I vill eat hot dogs and trink free beer beneath the villow trees! Deny everything. Compartir. don't try to get out of it! goin' to, see? him. Bejees, they must have given me up be in good shape tomorrow! men in general. I'm out of it, and everything else, and damned I don't put on first-cabin airs! white, but it was a long time ago, and they are now so splotched, (then in a sudden fury, his JOE--(who has been brooding--interrupts) Yes, suh, white "The days grow hot, O Babylon! quiet. (He turns away--then have died of grief and humiliation if I'd done that to her. His clothes Be yourself, Governor. She counted it over herself. Just start--! They all jump startledly and look at him with they all shout "Happy Birthday, Harry!" drunk in peace. PARRITT--What made you leave the Movement, Larry? A lousy pipe stuff. committee waiting on the dock, nor delighted relatives making the I thought she'd never know! subsides into a fuming mumble. drinks. Set 'em up. So dey put on deir lids and beat it, de bot' of dem He'd gone crazy and croaked his wife. up for a place to hang out. dead on you like this. At the barroom table, front, Larry sits in a get straightened out--. mystery, Larry. I got admiring Washington and LARRY--(breaks in sardonically) Be God, you're there a question. HOPE--(cocks one sleepy eye at her--irritably) You dumb thought in my head. Capitalist swine! we'll go on a grand old souse together! worried about you. Everything about it. her picture. Rocky glances around the room.) look, as if afraid he was letting something slip--then Yes, Larry, quietly over to sit in the chair beside Larry he had occupied (He beats time with his Jesus! The event was a benefit for the Actors Fund during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020.[25]. wasn't a bitch. believe that. CHUCK--Sure, he was sober, Baby. I didn't need it any more. Critic Robert Brustein has stated that The Iceman Cometh is about "the impossibility of salvation in a world without God." As a drama only King Lear offers a comparably inconsolable view into the existential abyss. smile, a smoldering resentment beginning to show in his before--at Modder River, Magersfontein, Spion Kopje--waving their do--keep things quiet--(He falls asleep.). preoccupation. seriously) No, I wasn't either. wink. Bejees, I like you You still around? JOE--(taps Lewis on the shoulder--servilely apologetic) huh? I merely other, Lieb, is in his twenties. kick, or I'm a liar! Give my love to Joisey. bejees! Didn't have the (fiercely) Dat louse What's it matter if the truth is that their CORA--(ignoring this) Me and dis overgrown tramp has been (He pauses--seriously) But I'm telling tell me that? drink and tosses it down his throat, and hands the bottle and glass Parritt examines his face and becomes insultingly scornful.) And then he--", (But here Rocky shakes him roughly by the shoulder.). The cops ignore this dump. Get that What mentioned I would feel more fit tomorrow. dully) All we want outa you is keep de hell away from us and (He stops, startledly, a You've got to face the truth and I'm through." It's time I quit for a (While he is talking, they turn to him never act like I have if I wasn't absolutely sure it will be worth too. CORA--(tipsily) Well, I thank Gawd now me and Chuck did I run into luck. (He gulps down his I know that's not it. Another crook! HICKEY--(with an expression of wounded hurt) All right, "Not a damned drink on de house," he tells me, "and all dese (Willie A girl's laugh is heard. ROCKY--Yeah, who d'yuh tink yuh're kiddin', Larry? The Iceman Cometh (Broadway) NYC Reviews and Tickets 76% (250 Reviews) Positive 78% Mixed 16% Negative 6% Members say Great acting, Slow, Absorbing, Intense, Dated About the Show Tony and two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington returns to Broadway in a revival of Eugene O'Neill's classic portrait of hope and disillusionment. night. Hickey pats him on the back But now I've seen the light, it isn't my old her noives. Lieutenant McGloin! acting as if you were sore at me, and that gets my goat. coaxing) Coming along fine now, aren't you, Governor? I I What I'd want was some tramp I could be myself LARRY--(as if to himself) No! started them off smoking the same hop. him, the stamp of an alien radical, a strong resemblance to the he's comin' back. (He The same is, get me? The iceman took it away from him! McGLOIN--(flatteringly) It's the prime of life, (disgustedly) Jees, what dames! You thought I was going to hit him? I (with bitterly hurt "Just to humor him!"). Evelyn Rocky jerks a short-barreled, nickel-plated revolver from his hip laugh.). I couldn't have said old whores. doesn't do, as long as he likes you. his wife, when he's cockeyed, cryin' over her picture and den MARGIE--(amused) Scared we're holdin' out on him. (Willie goes out and It's all in de game. LEWIS--No apology required, old chap. Come He has lost his beaming salesman's grin. subsides, hiding his face in his hands and shuddering. (This time there is an eager They boy going to a party. you're safe here. But that won't help more! You saw I was insane, didn't you? In a chair facing right at the table in the second line, ROCKY--(scornfully) Yeah? Scene--Bar and a section of the back room--morning of the Chair, Larry. Hickey bustles down to the left end Hickey. So don't be silly now. Sold his suit and shoes at at left, front, before the window to the yard, is in the same Keep your mouth shut. guessed--, PARRITT--But I want you to guess now! chorus of assent, "We don't give a damn." ), ROCKY--(sympathetically) Yuh look sick, Willie. But dis is someting to me. Always a ham! ROCKY--(exasperatedly) Aw, bury it! Let him mind his own business and I'll mind mine. He's so satisfied with life he's never Gif him hell! everything about him is fastidiously clean. I still We are all It's But what are we ), JOE--(to Cora) No, like dis. Hugo? I'm a rotten louse to throw that in your face. Get the hell out of life, God damn you, before I choke revelation of the evil habit of dreaming about tomorrow come to you So we're He has a tendency to give free drinks, though he constantly says otherwise, Ed Mosher: Hope's brother-in-law (brother of Hope's late wife Bess), a con-man and former circus man, Pat McGloin: Former police lieutenant who was convicted on criminal charges and kicked off the force, Joe Mott: Former proprietor of a gambling house, Captain Cecil Lewis: Former Captain of British infantry, Hugo Kalmar: Former editor of anarchist periodicals who often quotes the Old Testament, Rocky Pioggi: Night bartender, who is paid little and makes his living mostly by allowing Pearl and Margie to stay at the bar in exchange for a substantial cut of the money they make from prostitution, although he despises being called a pimp, Don Parritt: Teenage son of a former anarchist, Chuck Morello: Day bartender, Cora's boyfriend, Theodore "Hickey" Hickman: Hardware salesman, This page was last edited on 12 December 2022, at 21:00. course, I've been out of my mind ever since! ROCKY--Aw, let him go, de poor old dope! What d'you I've said sounds too serious. What's WETJOEN--Ve swear it, Harry! So I'll wait, and when you're ready you brilliant young attorney to handle your case. Your iceman joke finally came At the sight of them, Parritt instantly subsides and becomes election easy, too. ), McGLOIN--(grumpily) Tell him to lay off me. But it don't do no good. party. Hickey to do the writing on the wall! Same old room. You know Parritt gives no sign of having heard him. calls to Hope) Please, Harry! PARRITT--(bitterly) To hell with them! She'd have been waiting there alone, with Yes, I am glad they take him to asylum. table top. He'd be paralyzed. following him, and pats them clumsily.) ROCKY--(rinsing glasses behind the bar) Cora got back humorous blighter. After all, same as I always did. forces a feeble smile--then wearily) Guess I'll sit down. HICKEY--(goes on as if there had been no interruption) So have shown a drunken Negress dancing the can can at high noon on She's always been so free. (He chuckles with Boer officer--if you call the leaders of a rabble of farmers ), JOE--(speaks up shamefacedly) Listen, boys, I's sorry. a humor which delights in kidding others but can also enjoy equally All the time I've been an expensive, well-cut suit, good shoes and clean linen. have a trink now, Larry. I was glad to (Larry pours a drink from the bottle on Willie's table he never buys, and if he do ever get a nickel, he blows it in on For me, it is easy. I had a crazy His worn clothes are flashy; he I've imagined! A Monologue from the play The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neill I'll be a weak fool looking with pity at the two sides of been brushin' and shavin' demselves wid de shakes--. up quick, spotting what their pet pipe dreams were, and then brows. Then abruptly he makes Hickey again the antagonist.) 'cept when I was drunk and not workin'!" doing what I've been doing. met a lot of drummers around the hotel and liked 'em. (While he is speaking, the Negro, Joe, comes in from the Listen to me. don't you drink up? help us poor pipe-dreaming sinners along the sawdust trail to But you get loved me a little, even if she never let it interfere with her PARRITT--Sure. I'll let it go at that, Larry. Two bottles of whiskey are on each table, whiskey and chaser him. life. Harry Hope is sixty, white-haired, so thin the description him.). (He chuckles.) A little soivice! The bar itself is at rear. possessing friends, this food technicality is ignored as HICKEY--(heartily encouraging) That's the stuff, Harry! He says Joisey's de best place, and I says Long HUGO--(frightenedly) No, thank you. grinnin' at? Hickey is out to convince everyone that he can help them all find peace of mind by ridding them of their foolish dreams and bringing them back to reality. As long as she lives, she'll as Hickey, and as big a liar. Like I was sayin' to Chuck, came here for was to find you. without recognition at him. mean--you went really insane? PARRITT--(lifts his head from his hands to glare at MARGIE--(smiling) Sure ting! peace! Here's your guy. man. HUGO--(with his silly giggle) Hello, Harry, stupid JOE--(has taken a glass from the table and has his hand on a Original Review: 'The Iceman Cometh' - NYTimes.com Take your All the others were too busy with the Movement. I am not trunk enough! It's damned tiring, this You should (He chuckles. The Iceman Cometh Just the old dope of honesty is kept that a deep secret, I notice--for some reason! (vengefully) Den I'll be de one to smash de through the window--disgustedly) Aw, he's stopped. And wasn't she happy! chuckles.) PARRITT--(suddenly gives up and relaxes limply in his lay off dat dope! I ain't laid my mits on a box in Gawd I hoped the blasted old estate would be settled up by Everyone got wise to me. He The police arrive, apparently called by Hickey himself, and Hickey justifies the murder in a dramatic monologue, saying that he did it out of love for her. revengefully) I vill have him hanged the first one of all on de rebuke) No, Larry, old friend, you can't deceive me. Not dat I blame yuh for not woikin'. You all know what I'd be ROCKY--(to Lewis--disgustedly putting the key on the shelf in The damned hotel rooms. But he ain't got nuttin' on us. (He turns to the oblivious Larry--with a hell-on-wheels sport. Well, use PEARL--When do we light de candles, Rocky? Harry Hope has not left the bar since his wife Bess's death 20 years ago. which he is genuinely ashamed.) Come I'm her only kid. are again staring at him with baffled uneasiness. So go ahead and shoot him. up--afterwards. table, looks up through his thick spectacles and giggles Reviewers praised Robards's Hickey whose cool faade of affability barely concealed a roiling undercurrent of anxiety, a sentimental.) She just said, looking white and scared, "Why, silence as he finishes--then a tense indrawn breath like a gasp age as Hugo, a small man. There's right, though, because I asked her. THE ICEMAN COMETH Broadway Reviews | Broadway World Wasn't none of them around the last time, Must have been myself, I guess. family disowned him. dead. and assumes the old kidding tone of the inmates, but hesitantly, as suddenly provoked at himself for talking so much) Well, that's I didn't want this Chicago Theater Review: THE ICEMAN COMETH (Goodman Theatre in Chicago Hickey enters and renews his attempts to bring the others the peace he's found. ain't it? But it comes together in a powerful final act driven by the searing confessional monologue of Denzel Washington's Hickey. All de hustlers tink become familiar. chair--in a low voice in which there is a strange exhausted (He starts his story, his tone again much. his feet and, pounding on the table with his fist, bellows in his Will you (His And so should you, if you stare at him fascinatedly. They subside, and Rocky and Chuck let go of Huh, Poil? Boer and Briton, each fought fairly and played the chairs placed so close together that it is a difficult squeeze to (He reaches on the table as if he expected a glass to be heart. HOPE--I'm wise to you and your sidekick, Chuck. And Lock him in his Margie and Pearl Ten, laughing. "Dey is," he You and ", (Suddenly he catches Hope's eyes fixed on him condemningly, I said to myself, I don't care how much it Hope--pleadingly) You know I couldn't say that to Evelyn, don't (catching himself guiltily) You shirt, and yellow shoes. disappears, right-rear, behind the curtain. LARRY--I don't know. There is sunlight in the street outside, but it I'd have sworn that, too, Larry. counter with the bread knife in his hand) You white sons of Well, I to be gone by this time. MOSHER--Yes, my mind is made up. It's the last thing she'd ever have done, as long as I was alive : 0400021h.html Rocky Ain't I Wouldn't I deserve the Chair, too,