The Hairy Ape is an expressionist play by Eugene O'Neill (1922). On White II by Wassily Kandinsky, 1923. ... Eugene Gladstone ONeill (October 16, 1888 – November 27, 1953) was a Nobel- and four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright. ...

Plot

The play tells the story of a brutish, unthinking laborer known as Yank, as he searches for a sense of belonging in a world controlled by the rich. At first Yank feels secure as he stokes the engines of an oceanliner, and is highly confident in his physical power over the ship's engines. However, when a weak but rich daughter of an industrialist in the steel business refers to him as a "filthy beast," Yank undergoes a crisis of identity. He leaves the ship and wanders into Manhattan, only to find he does not belong anywhere -- neither with the socialites on Fifth Avenue, nor with the labor organizers on the waterfront. Finally he is reduced to seeking a kindred being in the gorilla in the zoo and dies in the animal's embrace. Manhattan is a borough of New York City, New York, USA, coterminous with New York County. ... Street sign at Fifth Avenue and East 57th street Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in New York City. ...

Scene by scene synopsis

The play is divided into 8 scenes. Scene 1 takes place in the stokehole, where Yank and the other firemen are talking and singing drunkenly. Yank is shown to be a leader among them. Other featured characters are Long, a socialist, and Patty, a particularly drunken Irishman.

Scene 2 takes place on the deck, where Mildred Douglas and her aunt are talking. They are almost constantly arguing.

Scene 3 takes place in the stokehole. Yank and the other firemen take pride in their work. When Mildred comes to visit the stokehole, a fight breaks out, and Mildred calls Yank a beast because she is afraid of him, and she faints.

Scene 4 also takes place on the ship. Yank is very depressed, and the other men try to understand.

In scene 5, Yank and Long go to 5th Avenue in New York. Yank attacks some of the socialites coming out of church, and argues with Long about how best to attack the upper class. Long leaves, and Yank is arrested.

Scene 6 takes place at the prison at Blackwell’s Island. Yank tells the prisoners his story, and one of the prisoners gives him an article about the Industrial Workers of the World. Yank tries to escape. The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or the Wobblies) is an international union currently headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. At its peak in 1923 the organization claimed some 100,000 members in good standing, and could marshal the support of perhaps 300,000 workers. ...

Scene 7 takes place at the IWW office that Yank goes to after his month in jail. They are happy to have him at first, because there are not many ship firemen in the union, but he is thrown out after he says that he wants to blow up things, and they think he is a spy.

Scene 8 takes place at the zoo, when Yank is crushed after trying to talk to an ape and releasing it from its cage.

Themes

The Hairy Ape displays O'Neill's social concerns and his belief that the capitalist system persecuted the working man, though the socialist movement does not have all the answers either. The industrial environment is presented as toxic and dehumanizing; the world of the rich, superficial and dehumanized. Yank has also been interpreted as representative of the human condition, alienated from nature by his isolated consciousness, unable to find belonging in any social group or environment.

Production history

The Hairy Ape was first produced by the Provincetown Players in 1922. The production, directed and designed by Robert Edmond Jones, was praised for its use of expressionistic set design and staging techniques, and was transferred to a theatre on Broadway. Actor Louis Wolheim became famous for his interpretation of Yank. The Provincetown Players was a theater company located in Provincetown, Massachusetts on Cape Cod, and famous for producing the plays of American playwright Eugene ONeill. ... Robert Edmund Jones (12 December 1887-26 November 1954) was an American scenic designer. ... On White II by Wassily Kandinsky, 1923. ... Broadway theatre[1] is the most prestigious form of professional theatre in the U.S., as well as the most well known to the general public and most lucrative for the performers, technicians and others involved in putting on the shows. ... Louis Wolheim and Lew Ayres in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930). ...

A low-budget 1944 film version released by United Artists starred William Bendix, Susan Hayward, Dorothy Comingore, and John Loder. Later notable productions include Peter Stein's 1986 revival, and a postmodern multimedia interpretation by the Wooster Group in 1996, with Willem Dafoe playing the protagonist. The current United Artists logo (a variant was used during the 1980s). ... William Bendix (January 14, 1906 - December 14, 1964) was an American film actor. ... Susan Hayward (June 30, 1917 – March 14, 1975) was an Academy Award-winning American actress. ... Margaret Louise Comingore (August 24, 1913 - December 30, 1971) was an American film actress, best known for her portrayal of Susan Alexander in Orson Welless critically acclaimed movie Citizen Kane. ... John Loder, born on 3 January 1898 in Selbourne, England, died on 26 December 1988, was an English actor best known for his tall, debonair and suave looks and his marriage to Hedy Lamarr. ... Peter Stein (born October 1, 1937) is a critically acclaimed German director who established himself at the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz, a company he arguably brought to the forefront of German theatre. ... Postmodernity (also called post-modernity or the postmodern condition) is a term used by philosophers, social scientists, art critics and social critics to refer to aspects of contemporary art, culture, economics and social conditions that are the result of the unique features of late 20th century and early 21st century... The Wooster Group is an avante-garde theatrical ensemble based in New York City. ... William Dafoe, Jr. ...

In fall 2006, The Hairy Ape was staged to positive reviews by the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York City. The Irish Voice declared, "O'Neill's spirit still resonates. The Irish Repertory Theatre's new production of The Hairy Ape reminds us why O'Neill is considered the first Irish American playwright."

External Link

• The Hairy Ape (1944) at IMDB