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Ebook has 784 lines and 20475 words, and 16 pages
"ANNA CHRISTIE"
A Play in Four Acts
EUGENE O'NEILL
CHARACTERS
"JOHNNY-THE-PRIEST" TWO LONGSHOREMEN A POSTMAN LARRY, bartender CHRIS. CHRISTOPHERSON, captain of the barge "Simeon Winthrop" MARTHY OWEN ANNA CHRISTOPHERSON, Chris's daughter THREE MEN OF A STEAMER'S CREW MAT BURKE, a stoker JOHNSON, deckhand on the barge
SCENES
ACT I
"Johnny-the-Priest's" saloon near the waterfront. New York City.
ACT II
The barge, Simeon Winthrop, at anchor in the harbor of Provincetown, Mass. Ten days later.
Cabin of the barge, at dock in Boston. A week later.
ACT IV
The same. Two days later.
Time of the Play--About 1910.
ACT I
SCENE--"Johnny-The-Priest's" saloon near South Street, New York City. The stage is divided into two sections, showing a small back room on the right. On the left, forward, of the barroom, a large window looking out on the street. Beyond it, the main entrance--a double swinging door. Farther back, another window. The bar runs from left to right nearly the whole length of the rear wall. In back of the bar, a small showcase displaying a few bottles of case goods, for which there is evidently little call. The remainder of the rear space in front of the large mirrors is occupied by half-barrels of cheap whiskey of the "nickel-a-shot" variety, from which the liquor is drawn by means of spigots. On the right is an open doorway leading to the back room. In the back room are four round wooden tables with five chairs grouped about each. In the rear, a family entrance opening on a side street.
It is late afternoon of a day in fall.
As the curtain rises, Johnny is discovered. "Johnny-The-Priest" deserves his nickname. With his pale, thin, clean-shaven face, mild blue eyes and white hair, a cassock would seem more suited to him than the apron he wears. Neither his voice nor his general manner dispel this illusion which has made him a personage of the water front. They are soft and bland. But beneath all his mildness one senses the man behind the mask--cynical, callous, hard as nails. He is lounging at ease behind the bar, a pair of spectacles on his nose, reading an evening paper.
Two longshoremen enter from the street, wearing their working aprons, the button of the union pinned conspicuously on the caps pulled sideways on their heads at an aggressive angle.
FIRST LONGSHOREMAN-- Gimme a shock. Number Two.
SECOND LONGSHOREMAN--Same here.
FIRST LONGSHOREMAN--Here's luck!
SECOND LONGSHOREMAN-- Give us another.
FIRST LONGSHOREMAN--Gimme a scoop this time--lager and porter. I'm dry.
SECOND LONGSHOREMAN--Same here.
LARRY-- Hello, boss.
JOHNNY--Hello, Larry. Just on time.
FIRST LONGSHOREMAN-- Let's drink up and get back to it.
THE POSTMAN--Addressed care of you, Johnny. Know him?
JOHNNY-- Christopher Christopherson.
THE POSTMAN-- Square-head name.
LARRY--Old Chris--that's who.
JOHNNY--Oh, sure. I was forgetting Chris carried a hell of a name like that. Letters come here for him sometimes before, I remember now. Long time ago, though.
THE POSTMAN--It'll get him all right then?
JOHNNY--Sure thing. He comes here whenever he's in port.
THE POSTMAN-- Sailor, eh?
JOHNNY-- Captain of a coal barge.
THE POSTMAN-- Some job! Well, s'long.
JOHNNY--S'long. I'll see he gets it. You got good eyes, Larry. Where's it from?
LARRY-- St. Paul. That'll be in Minnesota, I'm thinkin'. Looks like a woman's writing, too, the old divil! JOHNNY--He's got a daughter somewheres out West, I think he told me once. Come to think of it, I ain't seen old Chris in a dog's age. Guess I'll be gettin' home. See you to-morrow.
LARRY--Good-night to ye, boss.
CHRIS--Hello, Yohnny! Have drink on me. Come on, Larry. Give us drink. Have one yourself. Ay gat money--plenty money.
JOHNNY-- Speak of the devil. We was just talkin' about you.
LARRY-- Hello, Chris. Put it there.
CHRIS-- Give us drink.
JOHNNY-- You got a half-snootful now. Where'd you get it?
CHRIS-- Oder fallar on oder barge--Irish fallar--he gat bottle vhiskey and we drank it, yust us two. Dot vhiskey gat kick, by yingo! Ay yust come ashore. Give us drink, Larry. Ay vas little drunk, not much. Yust feel good.
"My Yosephine, come board de ship. Long time Ay vait for you. De moon, she shi-i-i-ine. She looka yust like you. Tchee-tchee, tchee-tchee, tchee-tchee, tchee-tchee."
JOHNNY-- Same old Yosie, eh, Chris?
CHRIS--You don't know good song when you hear him. Italian fallar on oder barge, he learn me dat. Give us drink.
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