The Iceman Cometh

Quotidian Theatre Company opens its 16th Season with The Iceman Cometh, a rarely-performed masterpiece by Nobel Laureate and Pulitzer Prize winner Eugene O’Neill that The New York Times calls a “tough, loquacious, magnificent play”. In a shabby New York barroom and hotel in 1912, the down-and-out await their salvation; the charismatic salesman Hickey is due for a visit, and he usually provides good cheer, dirty jokes, and free drinks. When Hickey arrives this time, however, he’s a changed man, and he brings with him a sobering truth that his old friends don’t want to hear. O’Neill’s ambitious ensemble piece wrestles with the necessity of pipe dreams — the lies we tell ourselves to make it through each day.