The Iceman Cometh, O`Neill, Eugene

Eugene ONeill mined the tragedies of his own life for this depiction of a seedy, skid row saloon in 1912, peopled by societys failures: worn-out anarchists, failed con artists, drifters, whores, pimps, and informers. The pipe-dreaming drunks of Harry Hopes 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 years 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.