Spellbinding--soaring theater--. For reasons that remain mysterious, it seems especially moving today.-- The New York Times
Eugene O'Neill mined the tragedies of his own life for this depiction of a seedy, skid row saloon in 1912, peopled by society's failures: worn-out anarchists, failed con artists, drifters, whores, pimps, and informers. The pipe-dreaming drunks of Harry Hope's bar numb themselves with rotgut gin and make grandiose plans, while waiting for the annual appearance of the big-spending, fast-talking salesman, Hickey. But this year's visit fails to bring the expected good times, as a changed Hickey tries to rouse the barflies from their soothing stupor with a proselytizing message of salvation through self-knowledge.

Considered by many to be the Nobel Prize-winning playwright's finest work, The Iceman Cometh exposes the human need for illusion as an antidote to despair. The recent gripping, critically acclaimed Broadway production, starring Kevin Spacey, has highlighted anew the subversive genius of O'Neill's play.

1939年夏天，大战阴影笼罩的旧金山，在一座俯视着湾区、名为“道庵”的房子里，已经获得诺贝尔文学奖的奥尼尔，开始撰写在内心深藏多年的自传戏《长夜漫漫路迢迢》。他决心将自己家中不可告人之事毫无保留地诉诸笔墨。往事如幽灵般纠缠不休，逼他非写不可，否则永远不得安宁。这部自传性剧作成为奥尼尔代表作。按作者本人的要求，这部作品在他去世后，直到1956年才首次上演。