A Touch of the Poet

A Touch of the Poet, set in a rundown inn near Boston in the 1820s, is the only completed play in Eugene O’Neill’s planned 11-part “American Family” cycle which he called "A Tale of Possessors Self-Dispossessed." The play centers around Con Melody, once a landed gentleman in Ireland, now an innkeeper in America who has fallen upon hard times. He lives in the past, strutting like a peacock in his army officer’s uniform from twenty years before, playing the part of the nobleman and treating his wife Nora and daughter Sara with contempt and derision — all to puff up his own sense of pride and importance. When the arrival of a mysterious lady and her son threatens to destroy Con’s grand illusion, he makes one last attempt to defend his honor, resulting in a drunken brawl and humiliation. Finally forced to confront his true self, Con learns to accept who he really is. Or does he?