History Theatre / TheIcemanCometh

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Several of the bums at Harry's bar retain vestiges of their past wealth and education in their speech:

* SesquipedalianLoquaciousness: Willie likes to speak with an obscure vocabulary and throw in literary references to highlight his Ivy League education.

* TheGhost: Don's mother Rosa Parritt doesn't appear on stage as a character, but she has a key role in the dynamic between Larry and Don.

* MoodWhiplash: The play fluctuates between the comical drunken antics of the main characters and the tragic events in their lives that brought them where they are.
** There are many scenes in the play where Hickey goes from joking glad-hander to despairing rager and back again, sometimes in the same sentence.

Creator/SidneyLumet directed a 1960 television production starring Creator/JasonRobards as Hickey, and a very young Creator/RobertRedford as Don. Creator/JohnFrankenheimer directed the 1973 film version starring Creator/LeeMarvin as Hickey, Creator/RobertRyan as Larry, Creator/FredericMarch as Harry Hope and Creator/JeffBridges as Don. [[Series/TheDukesOfHazzard Sorrell Booke]] and [[Film/TheTakingOfPelham123 Tom Pedi]] appeared in both adaptations as Hugo and Rocky, respectively.

-->'''Captain Lewis:''' My profoundest apologies, Joseph old chum, eyesight is a trifle blurry, I'm afraid. [You're the] whitest colored man I ever knew. I'm proud to call you friend!

* NiceGuy: Harry Hope, bar owner, who, despite his drumpy facade, lets the regulars drink for free most of the time and board in his spare rooms, because he sympathizes and identifies with their situation in life.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: The characters in ''Iceman'' were loosely based on Creator/EugeneONeill's friends at a new York City pub that he frequented. Among them was Czech-American radical Hipolyte Havel, the inspiration for Hugo Kalmar.

* JustJokingJustification: Hickey reveals uncomfortable truths about the bar's regulars, often in a crass and insulting way, but always with a smile and a humorous tone.

-->''Larry'': They love to talk of the glory days in South Africa when they tried to murder each other."
** Drinking buddies Ed Mosher and Pat [=McGloin=] are also always making jabs at one another's foibles and disgraces.

* VitriolicBestBuds: Captain Lewis and General Wetjoen, who fought on opposing sides of the Boer war, "love to talk of the glory days in South Africa when they tried to murder each other."

Creator/SidneyLumet directed a 1960 television production starring Creator/JasonRobards as Hickey, and a very young Creator/RobertRedford as Don. Creator/JohnFrankenheimer directed the 1973 film version starring Creator/LeeMarvin as Hickey, Creator/RobertRyan as Larry, Creator/FredericMarch as Harry Hope and Creator/JeffBridges as Don. [[Series/TheDukesOfHazzard Sorrell Booke]] and Creator/TomPedi appeared in both adaptations as Hugo and Rocky, respectively.

Creator/SidneyLumet directed a 1960 television production starring Creator/JasonRobards as Hickey, and a very young Creator/RobertRedford as Don. Creator/JohnFrankenheimer directed the 1973 film version starring Creator/LeeMarvin as Hickey, Creator/RobertRyan as Larry, Creator/FredericMarch as Harry Hope and Creator/JeffBridges as Don. [[Series/TheDukesOfHazzard SorrellBooke]] and Creator/TomPedi appeared in both adaptations as Hugo and Rocky, respectively.

Creator/SidneyLumet directed a 1960 television production starring Creator/JasonRobards as Hickey, and a very young Creator/RobertRedford as Don. Creator/JohnFrankenheimer directed the 1973 film version starring Creator/LeeMarvin as Hickey, Creator/RobertRyan as Larry, Creator/FredericMarch as Harry Hope and Creator/JeffBridges as Don. Creator/SorrellBooke and Creator/TomPedi appeared in both adaptations as Hugo and Rocky, respectively.

Among the regulars are Larry Slade the one-time [[BombThrowingAnarchist anarchist firebrand]] turned cynical "foolosopher", his fellow anarchist Hugo Kalmar who lost much of his eyesight and his sanity while locked away in solitary confinement for his politics in an unnamed eastern European country, Joe Mott the former owner of a casino for black patrons, Captain Cecil Lewis - a former officer in the British Army who fought in the Boer War, General Piet Wetjoen, a Boer commando who fought on the opposing side, Jimmy "Tomorrow" Cameron the former newspaper correspondent, Willie Oban the [[FutureLoser Harvard law school graduate]], Lt. Pat [=McGloin=] the [[DirtyCop former police officer]], and Ed Mosher the former circus ringmaster and lifelong petty ConMan.

--->'''Willie''': I was a brilliant student at law school, too.

* OnlySaneMan: Larry likes to present himself as a man who has put his self-delusions behind, in contrast to the other bar regulars. Hickey makes it a point to prove to Larry that he's hiding behind self-decption too.

--->'''Hickey''': I had the knack. It was like a game, sizing people up quick, spotting what their pet pipe dreams were, and then kidding 'em along that line, pretending you believed what they wanted to believe about themselves. Then they liked you, they trusted you, they wanted to buy something to show their gratitude.
--->'''Hickey''': Don't try to kid me, Little Boy. I'm a good salesman--so damned good the firm was glad to take me back after every drunk--and what made me good was I could size up anyone.

* AllForNothing: At the end, all of the bar's regulars except for Larry return to their drunken lives and retreat into the delusional lies about themselves that keep them going. Larry admits that he's the only convert Hickey has made.

The regular patrons' alcoholic contentment is disrupted one day when Hickey comes one day not to drink and party with them, but to reform them so that they can find "true peace" as he has. As the evening progresses, an increasingly unhinged Hickey starts to hint at a very dark and disturbing secret behind his newfound crusade. Meanwhile, Larry is equally disturbed when a desperate Don Parritt, the son of a former lover who suspects that Larry may be his real father, comes to him for guidance.

Joining them in their self-deluded daydreams is the bar's owner, the equally drunken Harry Hope (who hasn't set foot outside the premise of his own bar and boarding house in years), his bartenders Rocky Pioggi (who doubles as a pimp) and Chuck Morello, and three prostitutes Cora, Margie, and Pearl.

One of Creator/EugeneONeill's most highly-regarded plays, ''The Iceman Cometh'' was written in 1939 and premiered on Broadway in 1947. The play tells the story about the regular denizens of a New York City dive bar, and their friend and patron, the prosperous and gregarious salesman Theodore "Hickey" Hickman.

One of Creator/EugeneONeill's most highly-regarded plays, ''The Iceman Cometh'' tells the story about the regular denizens of a New York City dive bar, and their friend and patron, the prosperous and gregarious salesman Theodore "Hickey" Hickman.

* ConMan: Ed Mosher, though the best he could usually accomplish was to swap a few dimes for nickels here and there.

* {{Neet}}: All of the bar regulars are unemployed and have no hope of ever being gainfully employed again due to their severe alcoholism. What's more, all of them are in serious denial of the fact that this will be their permanent state. The most notable example is probably Jimmy "Tomorrow" Cameron, who always talks about how he'll clean up his act, put on a new suit, and get his job as a newspaper correspondent back tomorrow. He eventually admits that he'll do nothing of the sort because his situation is hopeless.

* LukeIAmYourFather: Averted when Larry tells Don that he didn't even meet his mother until after he was born, when Don says that he always suspected that Larry was his real father.