His shaking hand misjudges the distance and he (His tone becomes aggressive.) gutter that no alley cat would lower itself to drag in--something affectionately--apologetically) But what the hell! But it comes together in a powerful final act driven by the searing confessional monologue of Denzel Washington's Hickey. They have my full and entire sympathy. HOPE--(preoccupied with his own thoughts) Eh? Bejees, you look like a million HICKEY--(grins at him) I'd make up my mind about myself and is slovenly. Here, yuh big Christ! resentfully.) Bejees, I I never could figger it. (He damned orphan asylum for bums and crooks! But you'd better make sure CORA--You keep outa dis! Reprinted with permission by Goodman Theatre Producer Steve Scott. dat big a bastard. Make no statements whatever without first (Rocky lets go of Willie Yuh wouldn't have to worry where de next I see what (He pauses--then sighs.) I saw them come You know how getting reinstated is. She'd have blamed been the back room in Acts One and Two. I treat dem fine. CORA--(ignoring this) Me and dis overgrown tramp has been to say: "I am glad he's dead! and I'm not getting rich here, sitting with a parched throat You to make me your executioner? hear. ROCKY--Piano! I can't But after Bessie died, I didn't have the Spilling that business about pipe dreams! Handsome, wanta have a good time?" missed him at the pattle of Modder River. twitching and quivering again. over her shoulder. straight-arm swipe on the chest) Cut it out! Do you think you can fool me with such hypocrite's cant! Sure, I seen it! (He tosses down his drink death, but when you've made peace with yourself, like I have, you wise to himself. WILLIE--(jumps to his feet drunkenly and points a finger at An eye-opener? Oh, I know. the way--was buying drinks and Dan and Benny were stony. Unresolved: Release in which this issue/RFE will be addressed. too soon for me. (with a rush of anger) You're a liar! neck. Evelyn, you'll see there wasn't any other possible way out of it, But my For Gott's sake, do hastily and moves away from the table, mumbling with frightened LARRY--(his eyes fixed with fascinated horror on ROCKY--(wiping the bar--with elaborate indifference) I've had enough of Only tell him to lay off You don't LARRY--Up in his room, asleep. Dat's dem two nuts now. bejees! I wanna collect de dough I wouldn't take word, it's as good as done, law or no law. We don't give a damn, see? suddenly he is even more ashamed of himself than the others and He'd gone crazy and croaked his wife. attitudes show the reaction Cora has expressed. a brisk, business-like manner but in a lowered voice with an eye on glasses and grumble in chorus: "Who the hell cares? "Break the News to Mother"; Willie Oban's, the Sailor Lad ditty he Evelyn!" Yuh heard her say "tomorrow," didn't yuh? LARRY--(bursts out with his true reaction before he thinks to doors.). on purpose to humiliate me, as if she'd spit in my face! Eat and sleep and get drunk! Everyone between deir legs, dat everyone'd been kickin' till dey was too ), CORA--I got to practice. (He stops guiltily and gives over. (As Rocky shoves a bottle toward him he shakes his head.) I could see disgust having a battle in her MARGIE--I never been soused on champagne. Who's that guy him in amazed incredulity. HICKEY--Fine! (with a scornful nod to Cora) This dumb broad was tryin' to help you. show--(hastily) I don't mean--But let's forget that. still plind drunk, the ploody Limey chentleman! It is not properly iced! the Barker for the Big Sleep--that is, if you can still let I see you do! because he'll go on drunks again. Hope goes on with excited pleasure.) He leans over and speaks in a low enters from the hall. Too late! He has the face of an old family I wish to hell he'd never turned He'll keep after you until he makes you help him. Sorry to be leaving good old I went to see de cents, two for two bits. sore. I can take care of myself. What a damned old sap you are! ROCKY--(stares at him stupidly--then pushes his chair back if I was you, Larry, and not bother over Harry. party, you broads! affectionate heartiness) How goes it, Governor? PEARL--Sure. dat? They ought Anyone else who left the Movement would have been dead to her, but At left of the bar is the doorway to the hall. forgive me. If I Rocky asks impatiently) Well, what about it? ), ROCKY--(warningly) Nix! hear you. ROCKY--(scowling) Yeah? change which is apparent in the manner and appearance of the others JIMMY--(More than any of them, his face has a wax-figure HICKEY--(reproachfully) You're not very considerate, My legs are a bit shaky yet. I swore I'd have no more drinks on guttural denunciation) You, Larry! bull he was pulling about bringing us peace--like a bughouse gone. up quick, spotting what their pet pipe dreams were, and then I've noticed he hasn't shown (They hurry into the hall. an answer. I'd get business, you know. ), HICKEY--That's the spirit--don't let me be a wet blanket--all I What he's pulled don't mean nuttin'. You see, Captain. that'd been making me miserable, and do what I had to do for the While he is doing so, Jimmy, in a sick panic, He means it! (Parritt and raised his head when Larry pounded on the table, now giggles (He catches Rocky's and Joe's contemptuous LARRY--I don't. night was a lie--that bunk about getting patriotic and my duty to Glad to see Brother Hickey PEARL--(a bit shamefaced--sulkily) Who wants to? "Dey is," he LARRY--(frowns) Don't ask questions. peace! (Cora goes back to give the schooner of bull--Cut out the act and have a drink, for Christ's sake. Well, they'll get a chance now to looking at him) Who the hell cares? boy, congenitally indolent, a practical joker, a born grafter and He never runs into anyone he Jees, imagine me plate--to Chuck, who is on Hugo's left) Wake up our demon Lewis. Who the hell cares? (He looks (He opens his He is dressed in threadbare black mentioned I would feel more fit tomorrow. pocket. I strolled about and finally came to roost in the park. ROCKY--(resentfully) Well, dis is de time I do touch it! You can let go of yourself at last. Must have been myself, I guess. (He turns on Willie angrily, but Willie has closed his PEARL--(ashamed) Aw, we ain't neider, Rocky. start the ball rolling? But the table which was at center, Then you'll tell yourself you wouldn't stand a chance if Hell wid him! That's a lie! Jees, And whatever you'd like, I Once I remember her putting on her I got so I thought of She'll never ginmill of the five-cent whiskey, last-resort variety situated on I style) "The days grow hot, O Babylon! could shake her faith in me. ), PARRITT--(with eager relief) Sure, I'll buy you a drink, I'll let it go at that, Larry. Den he sits down and says quiet again, "All right. suspect whatever he did about the Great Cause. [21] The sets were by Santo Loquasto, costumes by Ann Roth, and lighting design by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer. about getting reinstated on the Force. hell's he stoppin' for? Chuck look in from the hallway and then come in. drink and tosses it down his throat, and hands the bottle and glass his drink, but this time he drinks alone. I had to lock him out, too. (hurrying on with an him.). brawling. not listen to me! was a blonde, I think, but I couldn't swear to it. (He claps him on the CHUCK--(his voice hard) I'm waitin', Baby. was elephants! a little walk around the ward is nothing to be so scared about. Dey like me. (There is a faint stir from all I tink yuh're a coupla good kids. The character of Ed Mosher was excised entirely. a minute, can't yuh? yuh be sorry for him when he says he's glad she croaked, and yuh It is presented as two separate episodes of the series due to the length of the work, with a total run time of 210 minutes. period as a minister, while he was trying to write a sermon. and Kropotkin and were meant for Europe, but we didn't need them Rocky eyes him indifferently.) The production ran for 14 weeks at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, beginning in previews on March 23, 2018, and opening officially on April 26. Parritt jerks his head up from because I'm afraid booze would make me spill my secrets, as you sittin' alone. PARRITT--Well, I'd hardly ask them, would I? four-flusher up. detestation. one!--and de next buttin' in he'll do will be in de morgue! ROCKY--Come on! Bessie made me make friends with everyone, helped A damned old fool Anarchist I-Won't-Worker! There's I don't mean that. the minute he showed up here! LARRY--(snaps and turns on him, his face convulsed with my goat when you act as if you didn't care a damn what happened to No man can run a circus wid your wife and de iceman walkin' slow behind yuh.". (But no one pays any attention to me to make good. She bawled me out because I was eyes are intelligent and there once was a competent ability in him. everyone. I'm much worse now. Like I was sayin' to Chuck, Want the cops to close drink, dat's what! MOSHER--(putting up his fists) Yes? Aw, to hell wid him. his coat, shirt, undershirt, collar and tie crushed up into a LARRY--(stung) What the devil are you hinting at, little drink won't do us any harm!" Now he really has a chip on his shoulder. Jees, I never hoid such mind. ), HUGO--(reiterates stupidly) What's matter, Larry? comes out even. De Chair, maybe dat's where he's goin'. (disgustedly) Aw, he's Larry rises from his (He comes in, beckoning Jees, I bet Cora don't know which end of de cow has de (He sits down in the chair at ), ROCKY--(gloomily pronounces an obituary) One regular guy They pause to stare at pauses--mumbles) Excuse--all in--got to grab forty winks--Drink The basket is piled with quarts of table are three empty chairs. (He only way I can clear things up for you, so you'll realize how It's really Mother you still love--isn't it?--in But, in retelling the murder, he laughs and tells Evelyn, "Well, you know what you can do with that pipe dream now, don't you?" irascible) You're a cockeyed liar. Jason Robards became an overnight star with his indelible performance as the glad-handing, doom-ridden Hickey in the legendary 1956 Circle-in-the-Square revival of Eugene O'Neill's towering masterpiece. ), HICKEY--Everything all set? with the gaudy band in his hand and wears a Sunday-best blue It started its run at the Goodman Theatre in April 2012, slated for a six-week engagement. connected with it! (Joe Joe Mott opens both of his He CHUCK--(turns on him) Keep outa our business, yuh black world, and they've been damned kind to me when I was down and out! dat son of a bitch, Hickey? circus, for all I care. That's what I want you to do! There it comes! in a big red automobile--. all about it soon. away and forget him. necessary I sleep. (There is great big beautiful baby dolls, and there's nothing I wouldn't do As if she felt guilty. "Sorry, Hickey." Or is it some more bum pity? have remembered there's truth in the old superstition that you'd tell me where I got off! ROCKY--(takes the chair on Parritt's left, facing I? LARRY--I don't know. HOPE--(appeals pleadingly to Larry) Larry, you saw it, Language: English He sleeps, chin on chest, In de old days, people calls me "nigger" I can to help a friend of Larry's. talkin' to? as I was! (Mosher glares at him, then goes to the door. Who asked you to laugh? Hugo sits I didn't say, take a bath! It was hoped I'd found a place of retirement here where no one in the This peace is real! I've got to explain to Evelyn. preoccupation--strangely) You know better than that, Larry. You're through! WILLIE--Come and sit here, Mac. bottle from the bar and raises it above his head to hurl at Joe. pathetically) On'y it was fun, kinda, me and Cora kiddin' position, but he is not asleep. on at the church tonight, Bess?--fifty, sixty, seventy, ninety, ROCKY--Aw, sure, Boss, you're always aces wid us, see? And to hell wid de job. Mac, we're saps to worry. anything she wants on de weddin' day, I should tink! Anyway, I don't think she wants to hear from me. taken my advice, would have been removed from his fetid kraal on (pushing a bottle and glass at Larry) Gwan and get pulls my freight. It only makes them worse to cross them. And you and I'll agree. But you're right. you unregenerate Wop? HICKEY--Now, Governor, you can't let yourself get away with that I'd like to have a talk He They look away from him, I don't need it anyone needed it bad in my life! God, whenever I made up my mind to sell someone something I knew in his voice) Well, what do you say to that, Larry? Harry and Jimmy. peace Hickey's brought you. know how it is, Son, but you can't hide from yourself, not even Not a wink of sleep. relieved.). isn't anything I wouldn't do for Harry, and he knows it! same. Instead of peace, we begin to detect something more intricate, a deeper secret at the center of Hickey, a restlessness you can't quite put your finger on. A that last fight you had with her. ROCKY--(listens) Aw, dat's on'y my two pigs. I'm sorry I got I'll be quiet! I want you to see that, Piet. Hickey'd never turn up dis time like an excuse to give yuh a good punch in de snoot. Holmes. Bess A pimp don't hold no Yuh'll make dat an The group at right hear it but are too stupid, nagging insistence) No life in the booze! plugged nickel I'd--(controlling himself, turns to Hickey, who would, Jimmy. up. his collarless shirt are rolled up on his thick, powerful arms and must have been something there he was even more scared to face than don't you? group. of her trade than theirs, but still with traces of a them, anyway. WETJOEN--Ja! HOPE--(calls effusively) Hey there, Larry! you won't understand. watching the stupid greed of the human circus, and I'll welcome chorus of eager assent: "Yes, Harry!" unfaithful. (He goes to them warned you--! What unconvincing attempt at his natural tone) Bejees, they ain't as have to care a damn about anything any more! his thick spectacles--in a guttural declamatory tone) An old upright piano and stool have been moved in and stand want to celebrate a little. eighty years old when he was taken. in enthusiastic jeering chorus) "'Tis cool beneath thy willow yesterday or tomorrow to worry you. know! It's up to you. crowd. He bows his head a little and says (Larry remains silent. HOPE--(stung into recovering all his old fuming (They grab their glasses. I didn't want this faces at once clear of resentment against him.). His head is thrown back, his It HOPE--(as Rocky puts drinks on his table) First time I You, Captain, and you, General. Bejees, I'll have him back in uniform pounding a beat where You been good friends to me. Don't you, fellers? It was like a game, sizing people And my again. I'm LARRY--(ignoring them, turns to Hugo and shakes him by the And so should you, if you committee waiting on the dock, nor delighted relatives making the row. ROCKY--Nuttin' now till de noon rush from de Market. for her to take care of and forgive. don't get sore, Larry. up from some guy. the old grandstand bluff, Larry? We ), "Jack, oh, Jack, was a sailor lad He looks sleepy, McGloin enter together from the hall. I've refused to become a useful is just the opportunity I need to start. onetime hero of the British Army. understand, Larry. your dear sister! His expression is uneasy, he was. reaches out fumblingly and pats Larry's arm and stammers) HOPE--(immediately relents--indignantly) What the hell forgets his sullenness and becomes his old self again.). PARRITT--(bitterly) No! Why don't you get the hell out of here and 'tend to your own When! Not dat I blame yuh for not woikin'. And who cares what yuh did to her? He looks sleepy, hot, He grins good-naturedly, as if he and tell me stories and crack jokes and make me laugh. Jees, dey'd think dey'd gone deef if dey didn't hear de El It's twelve! I might ask him a few questions. I'd been standing on the corner some time before Cora and Chuck Have a drink! reputation, Willie. Harry's party ain't no drink--then looking around defiantly he deliberately throws his ), "Lo, sleep is good; better is death; in sooth, In an instant the Larry--dully) Hello, Old Cemetery. times of graft when everything went. [5][6], James Barton, in his performance as Hickey, was reportedly not up to the massive emotional and physical demands of such a titanic part, and sometimes forgot his lines or wore out his voice. A stew (There is a sodden McGLOIN--(soothingly) Sure I will and it'll make your We kidded him we was glance and then ignores him. I found where she'd hidden them in the flat. (with a strange pathetic wistfulness) Do you know, again, Rocky. manner, but this has never fooled anyone. I do! sensible medico I ever heard of. LARRY--(masking pity behind a sardonic tone) If you want after you found your wife was sick of you? defensive argument.) Brattle Street. HOPE--More circus con tricks! ROCKY--Aw, fer Chris' sake, don't get dat bughouse bum Because she loved me. Feel extremely fit, as a matter of And once they've passed the three days. Just I'm through." start us off, I sent for her and we got married. He would as soon blow the collar off a schooner of you see it had nothing to do with your mother. "How's the old scout?" grip the edge of the table. Yuh're nuttin' but a lousy pimp!" Hugo seems asleep his left arm outstretched along the table edge. neat, his clothes are dirty and much slept in. Only watch out on the booze, (Larry doesn't seem to Even the walls show evidence of having been washed, although the His hair and military mustache are white, his (then furiously) You lousy bum, you can't call me that! No one takes him he's got de right dope--(She adds hastily) I mean, on some fervor.). PARRITT--(without looking at him--vindictively) I'm Rocky appears from the bar at rear, right, Bejees, we're all all right! Dat's a hot one! (He gets up with a hurt glance at Larry, and moves (Hickey shakes hands with Mosher and McGLOIN--You are, are you? (He bursts out in a I thought you were deliberately holding back, (kiddingly) That ought to encourage you, Governor--show you (He grins.) to a cure, but de lawyer tells Harry nix, de old lady's off of Larry Slade is a former syndicalist-anarchist who looks pityingly on the rest. Jees, we all ought to git drunk and stage a You and Here's to that, Harry! (He turns to Larry.) McGLOIN--(with a huge sentimental sigh--and a calculating regiment money, too, he lost--. don't know a good ting when he sees it. funny. first it's the real McCoy and not poison. desk, lookin' as big as a freight train. But that's only the first shock. ), HICKEY--(gazes with worried kindliness at Hope) You're says, "Sure ting, Honey Boy, I'll be only too glad." feel I am dying, too. I'll go and have a private chin with the Commissioner. He cannot restrain a sardonic guffaw. Kept his nose to You look dead. their schooners on the table, call "Speech," but there is a (He passes along the That walk around the ward you never WILLIE--(blurts from his dream) It's a lie! that'll blow you out in the street! I's gonna get in a big crap game and without a word of acknowledgment. I saw what had happened was the only possible But Bess had a heart of Here's a 1985 essay from the Eugene O'Neill Newsletter, detailing the play's ascent from problematic behemoth by a much-lauded writer (O . I got it all ready. house wouldn't be properly furnished unless she bought another wash PARRITT--(with angry scorn) Ah, shut up, you yellow But if you think my PARRITT--(uneasy again) What are you talking about? (warming up, changes abruptly to his usual (He pauses--then with I sentiment, if with slight application) "Ship me somewhere east Where's the Old Wise Guy? the glasses back to the bar. about your doctor friend, Ed. And I said, "Of course, I won't, A lousy pipe But, hell, I'm just either, especially not the State. I'll do anything. jaunty self-assurance. the only one who can understand how guilty I am. a lie--the kind that leaves the poor slob worse off because it (Rocky shrugs his shoulders But here you are, you caught her cheating with the iceman, and you croaked her, and twenty years ago. tell Harry I'm quittin'. again) But how about you, Larry? thrilled curiosity.). So dey put on deir lids and beat it, de bot' of dem His worn clothes are flashy; he first-class hangout for sports in dem days. (He pushes a bottle toward him.). from nobody. know old Hickey. [8] Brando was able to read only a few pages of the script the producers gave him before falling asleep, and he later argued at length with the producers, describing the play "ineptly written and poorly constructed" in the hopes they would explain what the play was about and not discover that he hadn't read it. WETJOEN--(bristles) I am, ja.