"The
Iceman Cometh" is a play by
Eugene O'Neill, published in 1939 and first performed in New York in 1946.
The play is set in Harry Hope's down-market Greenwich Village saloon and rooming house, in 1912. Harry as the proprietor of the bar has a tendency to give out free
drinks. He has not left the bar since his wife's death 20 years ago.
The patrons are all men and three women prostitutes, Pearl, Maggie and Cora. The men are all alcoholics who spend seeking oblivion in one another's company, at the same time trying to con free drinks from Harry and the bartenders. They tend to wait in anticipation on the almost regular visits of the salesman Theodore Hickman, called
Hickey. When Hickey finishes a tour of his business territory, he comes to the saloon and starts the party. He buys drinks for everyone.
As the play opens, the regulars are expecting Hickey to turn up soon and plan to throw Harry a surprise birthday party. The entire first act introduces the various characters and shows them bickering among each other, showing how drunk they are, while waiting for Hickey's arrival.
The characters include Larry Slade who used to date Don Parrit's mother, a member of an anarchist movement; Joe Mott, the only African American member of the group, a former owner of a black casino; Cecil "The Captain" Lewis is a former infantryman of the British Army who fought with Piet "The General" Wetjoen, a Boer during the Boer War; Willie Oban, a Harvard graduate; Pat McGloin, a former police lieutenant who was convicted on criminal charges and kicked out of the force; Rocky Pioggi is the night bartender; Ed Mosher, Harry's brother-in-law, his late wife's brother; Hugo Kalmar, a former anarchist; James "Jimmy Tomorrow" Cameron, a former British newspaper correspondent; and Chuck Morello, the day bartender and Cora's boyfriend. Pearl and Margie work for Rocky.
Cecil and Piet are now good friends. The two insist they'll soon go back to their countries of origin. Rocky is paid little and makes his living mainly by allowing Pearl and Margie to stay at the bar in exchange for all the money they make.
Finally Hickey arrives and his behavior throws the other characters into turmoil. He insists that everyone should abandon their illusions and their pipe dreams. During and after Harry's birthday party most seem to have been somewhat affected by Hickey's ramblings and "mission" to change their fantasies. Only the cynical Larry Slade stands up to Hickey, and eases the desperate Don's Parritt's pathway to suicide.
The play ends with a revelation that Hickey too has been living a lie all along, which confirms Slade's belief in the need for pipe dreams. Playwright Eugene O'Neill attempts to portray man as a "victim of the
ironies of life and of himself."