Act I

The first act of The Iceman Cometh opens in Harry Hope's saloon in the early morning of the day before Hope's annual birthday party. The room is occupied by an assortment of disheveled ne'er-do-wells—most in their fifties and sixties. Also present are Rocky, the night bartender, and Harry Hope himself. All of the men sleep except for Larry Slade, a former anarchist. As the curtain opens, Rocky sneaks Larry a free drink. Larry says he'll pay "tomorrow," then remarks that all of the men have great plans for a tomorrow that will never come, that all are given hope only by "the lie of the pipe dream." Larry claims to be the exception; he believes he has no pipe dream. He only waits for death.

Rocky and Larry then speak of Hickey, who comes in every year for Hope's birthday on one of his two...