Excellent naturalist drama
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Eugene O'Neill wanted to exert so much control over his plays and the way they could be performed that he included near exhaustive set descriptions (a general feature of naturalist drama) and ridiculously detailed actor directions (such as describing a character as 'looking inward at himself with self-loathing', or words to that effect). Consequently, it is almost as rewarding to read this play as it is to see it performed. Although it is long and repetitive, where it wins (as a naturalist play should) is in its acute depiction of psychologically real characters, who use non-standard-English dialogue, which adds to their expressiveness. O'Neill's skill for writing is evident throughout, and although I have been pushing it as a naturalist drama, it also can be read as including elements of allegory, which help it transcend any accusations of 'boringness' or 'miserableness' often levelled at such texts.
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Wonderful character driven play.
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I haven't seen any of the recent productions of this play, in fact I've never seen this play at all, so I was quite daunted when I started reading. I shouldn't have worried. This is a wonderful character driven story, filled with marvellous, believable people, who live out a couple of days in their lives for us to view. At the beginning a group of no-hopers are found in the back room of a bar, sleeping off their hang-overs and waiting for the arrival of Hickey, their travelling salesman buddy. When Hickey does turn up, he is not himself and for the rest of the play, the reasons behind this change are gradually revealed to us and the other characters, before the explosive series of monologues from Hickey which exposes his dark secret. Read this play. You won't regret it. All I want now is to see a production, where the actors fully appreciate O'Neill's characterisations. Shame I missed the Spacey production while it was in London! Jay
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