Play review – “The Hairy Ape” by Eugene O’Neill

One of O’Neill’s most memorable creations: Yank the stoker who is happy with his lot, shovelling coal and being an ape. His life is affected by a visit from a bored rich girl. I’d read synopsis of this before and thought “oh the girl is going to seduce him or something and ruin his life” and it seems for a while that this is going to happen – but once the girl sees Yank we never see her again, the play deals with the effect that one visit has on Yank, his world violated – he visits park avenue, winds up in gaol, then a Wobblies meeting, in a zoo. I couldn’t spot the end – bonding with a gorilla… and the gorilla kills him. How would you show it on stage? (Very expressionistic play). Lots of monologues, railing at capitalism, socialists, waterfront bars, choice dialogue, etc.