Anna Christie Part 1

Anna Christie.

by Eugene O'Neill.

CHARACTERS

"JOHNNY-THE-PRIEST"

TWO LONGSh.o.r.eMEN 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, Ma.s.s. Ten days later.

ACT III

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 s.p.a.ce 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 ca.s.sock would seem more suited to him than the ap.r.o.n 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 longsh.o.r.emen enter from the street, wearing their working ap.r.o.ns, the b.u.t.ton of the union pinned conspicuously on the caps pulled sideways on their heads at an aggressive angle.

FIRST LONGSh.o.r.eMAN--[As they range themselves at the bar.] Gimme a shock. Number Two. [He tosses a coin on the bar.]

SECOND LONGSh.o.r.eMAN--Same here. [Johnny sets two gla.s.ses of barrel whiskey before them.]

FIRST LONGSh.o.r.eMAN--Here's luck! [The other nods. They gulp down their whiskey.]

SECOND LONGSh.o.r.eMAN--[Putting money on the bar.] Give us another.

FIRST LONGSh.o.r.eMAN--Gimme a scoop this time--lager and porter. I'm dry.

SECOND LONGSh.o.r.eMAN--Same here. [Johnny draws the lager and porter and sets the big, foaming schooners before them. They drink down half the contents and start to talk together hurriedly in low tones. The door on the left is swung open and Larry enters. He is a boyish, red-cheeked, rather good-looking young fellow of twenty or so.]

LARRY--[Nodding to Johnny--cheerily.] h.e.l.lo, boss.

JOHNNY--h.e.l.lo, Larry. [With a glance at his watch.] Just on time.

[LARRY goes to the right behind the bar, takes off his coat, and puts on an ap.r.o.n.]

FIRST LONGSh.o.r.eMAN--[Abruptly.] Let's drink up and get back to it.

[They finish their drinks and go out left. The POSTMAN enters as they leave. He exchanges nods with JOHNNY and throws a letter on the bar.]

THE POSTMAN--Addressed care of you, Johnny. Know him?

JOHNNY--[Picks up the letter, adjusting his spectacles. LARRY comes and peers over his shoulders. JOHNNY reads very slowly.] Christopher Christopherson.

THE POSTMAN--[Helpfully.] Square-head name.

LARRY--Old Chris--that's who.

JOHNNY--Oh, sure. I was forgetting Chris carried a h.e.l.l 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--[Turning to go.] Sailor, eh?

JOHNNY--[With a grin.] Captain of a coal barge.

THE POSTMAN--[Laughing.] Some job! Well, s'long.

JOHNNY--S'long. I'll see he gets it. [The POSTMAN goes out. JOHNNY scrutinizes the letter.] You got good eyes, Larry. Where's it from?

LARRY--[After a glance.] 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. [He puts the letter on the cash register.] Come to think of it, I ain't seen old Chris in a dog's age. [Putting his overcoat on, he comes around the end of the bar.] Guess I'll be gettin' home. See you to-morrow.

LARRY--Good-night to ye, boss. [As JOHNNY goes toward the street door, it is pushed open and CHRISTOPHER CHRISTOPHERSON enters. He is a short, squat, broad-shouldered man of about fifty, with a round, weather-beaten, red face from which his light blue eyes peer short-sightedly, twinkling with a simple good humor. His large mouth, overhung by a thick, drooping, yellow mustache, is childishly self-willed and weak, of an obstinate kindliness. A thick neck is jammed like a post into the heavy trunk of his body. His arms with their big, hairy, freckled hands, and his stumpy legs terminating in large flat feet, are awkwardly short and muscular. He walks with a clumsy, rolling gait. His voice, when not raised in a hollow boom, is toned down to a sly, confidential half-whisper with something vaguely plaintive in its quality. He is dressed in a wrinkled, ill-fitting dark suit of sh.o.r.e clothes, and wears a faded cap of gray cloth over his mop of grizzled, blond hair. Just now his face beams with a too-blissful happiness, and he has evidently been drinking. He reaches his hand out to JOHNNY.]