The Iceman Cometh

Rating:
Summary: Read 'Death of a Salesman' instead
Review: This was an ok play, but I don't understand why so many people like it so much. It was interesting and somewhat entertaining, but it was incredibly depressing and almost nihilistic. The people in the play sit in a bar all day and don't do anything. As a matter of fact, they don't even try to do anything. This play is similar to Arthur Miller's `Death of a Salesman' in the respect that both plays are sad and depressing, but Willy Loman in `Death of a Salesman' is a good, family man who is at least working hard and is at least trying to improve his life unlike the complete bums and pathetic losers in `The Iceman Cometh'. Save your time, skip this play, and go directly to `Death of a Salesman'.

Rating:
Summary: A Place Where Death is Welcomed
Review: When I first picked up this book I was expecting it to be your typical two hour play. Little did I know that that was not the case. However, after I overcame the initial shock caused by the length of the play, I took the time to read it and became very interested. O'Neill introduces his audience to a group of proffesional drunks, most of which only awake from their habitual slumber from time to time. In these brief spirts of life we learn about most of the characters' pasts, which is all they seem to have. Now most of them just sit in the bar and drink their lives away dreaming their pipe dreams. They wait around for Hickey who normally drowns them in free liquor, or death with most of them seem to welcome with open arms. This time, however, when Hickey arrives, he has changed and plans to change all of the bar flies as well. After some of them attempt to give up on their delusions they realize that that is not how they want to live and return to their normal routine of being passed out on the table. Overall, it was a wonderful play showing O'Neill's assumption that men can't live in a world without delusions. I would recommend it for anyone interested in a good laugh and a plate full of truth involving human nature.