Theater: Hughie

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Get your tickets booked from Chicago Gigs to enjoy this one man act telling the story of his long time friend Hughie and get to know the personality of a Erie. Premium tickets are available at very cheap and attractive prices. Purchase the tickets now and have a wonderful time with this short play.

"Hughie" is a very odd creation written by O'Neill. He himself suggested it as "written more to be read than staged" in a letter to George Jean Nathan in 1942. Hughie is the only play he finished in the planned cycle "By Way of Obit," a series of two-character plays in which a man fires the memory of someone recently died to someone else, who is mostly a listener. Although "Hughie" is basically a short monologue, it is a complete richly outlandish and pleasing evening of theater. Eugene O'Neill was an esteemed man, winner of three Pulitzer Prizes for Drama and the Nobel Prize for Literature. O'Neill died in 1953.

Hughie is one-man act with lengthy monologues throughout the play. O'Neill provides more complex details on his characters with entire physical descriptions giving an insight into characters' inner thoughts and sentiments. Hughie doesn't appear in the play, but introduced to us through monologues of Erie, a lonely, small town gambler and storyteller who visits the hotel frequently. Erie talks endlessly to the new hotel clerk about his long-time friendship with Hughie, the ex-hotel clerk who has deceased recently.

The play begins with Erie reaching at the hotel. He starts his conversation with the new hotel clerk who is, however, not interested in chatting and seems bored. The clerk who is not willing to get friendly, refers to him as "room 492". The clerk feels very disturbed and try to divert himself from the talks with the street and various noises it brings. While he dreads the story-of-my life guests, Erie indirectly reveals the story of his life by discussing all about Hughie.

There is not much to suggest about Hughie but it is worth mentioning that it is his brilliant observation into humanity. We get to have a clear view of Erie's personality as much as we learn about who Hughie was. At the opening night, the play was critically reviewed. One of the review by Vincent Canby, NY Times says, "In some ways, "Hughie" plays like a footnote to "The Iceman Cometh." The word "pipe dream" is never used, but pipe dreams are the subject. As Erie rambles on, it becomes clear that he sees himself as having made life bearable for the forlorn Hughie. Erie dazzled Hughie with the "tramps" he brought home and introduced as Follies girls. Hughie was equally thrilled by stories (possibly exaggerated, Erie admits) of legendary crap games and winning bets on long shots. Hughie saw Erie as the trusted confidant of the mob bosses for whom, in reality, he was never more than a gofer. At the same time, of course, Hughie's admiration bolstered Erie's waning self-esteem. "Hughie" is a kind of extended seduction scene in which Erie tries to implicate his new friend Charlie in his own fabulous vision of himself."