Where The Cross Is Made: "My motto in life is never trust anyone too far, not even myself.”

by Eugene O'Neill

Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was born on October 16, 1888 in a hotel bedroom in what is now Times Square, New York. Much of his childhood was spent in the comfort of books at boarding schools whilst his actor father was on the road and his Mother contended with her own demons. He spent only a year at University - Princeton - and various reasons have been given for his departure. However whatever his background and education denied or added to his development it is agreed amongst all that he was a playwright of the first rank and possibly America's greatest. His introduction of realism into American drama was instrumental in its development and paved a path for many talents thereafter. Of course his winning of both the Pulitzer Prize (4 times) and the Nobel Prize are indicative of his status. His more famous and later works do side with the disillusionment and personal tragedy of those on the fringes of society but continue to build upon ideas and structures he incorporated in his early one act plays. Eugene O'Neill suffered from various health problems, mainly depression and alcoholism. In the last decade he also faced a Parkinson's like tremor in his hands which made writing increasingly difficult. But out of such difficulties came plays of the calibre of The Iceman Cometh, Long Day's Journey Into Night, and A Moon for the Misbegotten. Eugene O'Neill died in Room 401 of the Sheraton Hotel on Bay State Road in Boston, on November 27, 1953, at the age of 65. As he was dying, he whispered his last words: "I knew it. I knew it. Born in a hotel room and died in a hotel room."

Genres: Plays, Nobel Prize

24 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 17, 2014

About the author

American playwright Eugene Gladstone O'Neill authored Mourning Becomes Electra in 1931 among his works; he won the Nobel Prize of 1936 for literature, and people awarded him his fourth Pulitzer Prize for Long Day's Journey into Night , produced in 1956.

He won his Nobel Prize "for the power, honesty and deep-felt emotions of his dramatic works, which embody an original concept of tragedy." More than any other dramatist, O'Neill introduced the dramatic realism that Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish playwright August Strindberg pioneered to Americans and first used true American vernacular in his speeches.

His plays involve characters, who, engaging in depraved behavior, inhabit the fringes of society, where they struggle to maintain their hopes and aspirations but ultimately slide into disillusionment and despair. O'Neill wrote Ah, Wilderness! , his only comedy: all his other plays involve some degree of tragedy and personal pessimism.

Reviews

[Yomna Saber · Rating 5 out of 5]

تدور حول عائلة بحّار، حيث يعود الابن (نِد) ليواجه إرث أبيه المادي والمعنوي. الأب (كابتن كروس) يسيطر على البيت بسلطة ذكريات الماضي والكنز الذي يُقال إنه أخفاه. تدور الأحداث: المنزل الذي يحمل رمزية ثقيلة؛ كأنه قبر للأسرار والذكريات، ويصبح مركزًا للصراع. وعنوان العمل بالإنجليزية : "حيثُ صُنع الصليب" يشير إلى علامة دُفنت عندها أسرار الماضي، ويمثل عبئًا نفسيًا على الابن.
المسرحية تكشف عن سلطة الماضي التي تهيمن على الحاضر. نِد يعيش مسكونًا بتركة أبيه، فلا يستطيع أن يتحرر من إرثه ولا من “الصليب” الذي يرمز إلى الخيانة والذنب ويظهر الصراع مع الإرث الأسري: المسرحية تطرح سؤالًا عميقًا عن مدى تحكم الماضي في حياتنا. وتيمة الطمع والجشع: البحث عن الكنز المدفون ليس ماديًا فقط بل رمزيًا: البحث عن معنى أو تبرير للوجود. وتعرض المسرحية كذلك تيمة الوهم مقابل الحقيقة: الشخصيات تعيش على وهم الكنز، لكن الحقيقة أن هذا الإرث مجرد لعنة. والمسرحية بها العديد من الرموز مثل الصليب: رمز للتضحية والمعاناة، لكنه هنا يتحول إلى علامة على الذنب الموروث. والبيت: كيان يبتلع الشخصيات، يمثل السجن الذي لا يمكن الهروب منه. والبحر (المغيب في خلفية المسرحية): يرمز إلى الحرية الغائبة، وإلى قدرية الموت التي تلاحق العائلة. المسرحية قصيرة (ذات فصل واحد)، مكثفة الحدث. تعتمد على الحوار الداخلي والجو المأساوي أكثر من الحركة الخارجية. وهذا القالب يُبرز التوتر النفسي بدلًا من الصراع المادي. رغم كونها من أعمال أونيل المبكرة، تكشف المسرحية عن سماته الكبرى: الميل إلى المأساوية، الحفر في أعماق النفس، نقد الحلم الأمريكي المادي. والمسرحية تجريبية؛ لم تبلغ بعد عمق النضج الذي حققه لاحقًا، لكنها تهيئ الأرضية لأعماله الكبرى.

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 3 out of 5]

ENGLISH: I had never read this one-act play before, the story of contagious madness, in the ghostly surroundings of a house built as a ship.

ESPAÑOL: No había leído antes esta obra de teatro en un acto, el relato de una locura contagiosa, en el entorno fantasmagórico de una casa construida como un barco.

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

A father’s dreams have crippled his son. The son must burn them to save himself. Can he do it?

[Nermeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

مسرحية إذاعية بعنوان الكنز للكاتب الأمريكي يوجين أونيل .. من بطولة حمدي غيث ، سميحة ايوب و بدور الأب المجنون حسين رياض

[Ramy · Rating 4 out of 5]

مسرحية لطيفة من فصل واحد ....
عن قبطان عجوز متقاعد يهلوس ب كنز هو فى انتظاره و ابنه بحار شاب متقاعد بسبب ذراع مقطوع يعاني المرارة
لسان حاله يرفض تصديق هلوسات والده عن كنز و طلب له دكتور مستشفى المجانين ليأخذه من المنزل لكي يتمكن من بيعه و فك الرهن عليه
و لكنه فى باطنه يصدقه جدا و يؤمن ان ذلك الكنز هو حل لكل مشاكله

نهاية منطقية و حزينة
لا اعلم لماذا كل رويات و مسرحيات عن قبطان عجوز يكون فى منتهى العناد و مصر على هدفه للنهاية مهما كلفه الامر

اجاد حسين رياض و عبد الله غيث و سميحة ايوب
فى التمثيل الصوتي للمسرحية

الكتاب القادم : ظلام دامس لا نجوم

[وائل المنعم · Rating 3 out of 5]

مسرحية قوية ومفعمة بالإثارة بجانب اللغة الجيدة - ولقد وفق المترجم في نقل الحوار بما يعكسه من مشاعر، من مسرحيات أونيل القصيرة الجيدة للغاية، وهي دليل إضافي على تفوقه ككاتب مسرحي على أقرانه من كتاب المسرح الامريكيين إذا اخذنا في الاعتبار غزارة انتاجه وتنوع موضوعاته وطريقة تناوله للمسرحيات.
الكنز مدخل جيد لاعمال أونيل لمن يقرأ له للمرة الاولى.

[Nahed.E · Rating 4 out of 5]

مسرحية ( الكنز ) للكاتب الأمريكي الرائع يوجين أونيل

و .. لقد أصبحت أشتاق لمسرحيات أونيل .. الجو العام للمسرحية .. الزمن الذي تأخذني إليه ، خاصة لو المسرحية عن عالم البحارة، والبحار ، والكنوز، والقبطان المجنون ..
فأونيل لديه قدرة رهيبة علي التصوير .. لا أدري كيف يتلاعب بالعقول هكذا ؟
كيف جعل الحقيقة تندمج مع الخيال في هذا العرض الأدبي الرائع ؟
كيف يجعلني أقتحم عقل البطل بهذا الشكل ، لأتخيل أنا أيضا ما يتخليه .. خاصة لو كان مجنوناً مسكيناً يتخيل ما يُعينه علي حياته الكئيبة التي يحياها منذ ثلاث سنوات

مشكلة حقا عقل الإنسان .. صدقوا أجدادنا حين صوروه بأنه كالمصباح ، يُحرق من أقل مجهود أو تفكير زائد عن الحد
وبعد هذا .. لا أدري حقا لم الإنسان مغرور كل هذا الغرور ؟

للاستماع للمسرحية الرائعة
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urZjl...

[Dihia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where the cross is made is a play written by the American playwright Eugene O'Neil. A very well written one-act play that revolves around an island treasure. This treasure was the cause for which a sailor went mad because he lost his boat and his friends who went in search of this treasure.
O'Neil reflects on the greed of people and their behaviors that are transformed even with their loved ones.

[Nimisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

The son too inherited his father's insanity - and the sister had no option but to helplessly watch the situation unfold. But when the ghost sailors surround the stage, I wonder, "Who is actually insane?" Is it Nat and Isiah who can finally share the experience, or Sue, who is missing out?

[Ahmad El-Saeed · Rating 2 out of 5]

Where the Cross is made- Eugene O'Neill
Introduction
Eugene O'Neill (1888 - 1953), the American dramatist, was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.
He lifted American drama from its narrow provincialism and made it a powerful medium to present
human conflicts and frustrations. He used experimental techniques. O'Neill wrote sea plays which
dealt with sailors and the influence of the sea. These plays are a personal record of his experiences
which he had among sailors in Honduras, Buenos Aires, South Africa and at the waterfront in New
York.
The play "Where the Cross is Made" is about a demented sea captain named Isaiah Bartlett. He is
waiting for his sunken ship Mary Allen to return with a treasure. The treasure existed only on a piece
of paper marked by a cross.
Sue are the children of Isaiah. A quarrel ensues between Nat and Sue because Nat has made
arrangements secretly for shifting Isaiah to an asylum. After this Nat hopes to sell the mortgaged
house and write his book. Nat is apprehensive that his continued association with his father will
make him equally mad. Captain Isaiah who is growing old, passes on his insane vision to his son. The
son imagines the drowned crew of the ship bringing the treasure to his father.
"Where the Cross is Made" is an experimental play because O'Neill wanted to make the audience
believe that the play was about insanity. It is for this purpose that the playwright introduces ghost
sailors. The play is full of pathos. The mad captain Isaiah clings to his vision of his ship Mary Allen
bringing back an imaginary treasure. The son Nat makes desperate attempts to escape the tale of his
father. Finally the son also falls a prey to his father's insanity. The affectionate daughter helplessly
watches the effects of strange visions on her beloved father and brother. Though the ghosts of the
three sailors affect the psychological realism of the play it is in a way saved by the realistic characters
Sue and Doctor Higgins.
Meeting between Nat Bartlett and Doctor Higgins
The scene is set in Captain Bartlett's cabin. The cabin is a room erected as a lookout post at the top
of his house situated on a high point of land on the California coast. The compartment looks like the
captain's cabin of a deep-sea sailing vessel. The time of action is an early hour of a clear windy night
in the fall of the year 1900. The monotonous thunder of the sea comes from the beach below. Nat
Bartlett enters the room and tells Doctor Higgins that everything is all right. The doctor also enters
into the room. Nat Bartlett's right arm has been amputated, at the shoulder. The doctor is thirty five
years old. Nat looks much older than his thirty years. His shoulders have a heavy stoop and his head
has a heavy shock of tangled black hair. His face is long and bony. His eyes are deep-set and black.
His nose is large and aquiline. His voice is low and deep and it has a metallic quality. He wears the
machine and corduroy trousers. Nat tells the doctor that his father does not like light. The doctor
expresses his surprise about the resemblance of the room to a ship's cabin. For the past three years
Isaiah had never come down from his cabin. Sue used to take food to her father.
Nat's Plan for Treating His Father's Madness

[Heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Varhaisempaa tuotantoa, yksinäytöksinen näytelmä. Perhe (isä ja kaksi aikuista lasta) vararikon partaalla ja isä vain hulluudessaan kaipaa meren takaista aarretta, jonka on joskus saattanut löytää ja jo kerran menettänyt. Äärimmäisestä menetyksestä ja mielipuolisuudesta tiiviisti. Tunnelma mysteerinen ja kauhukertomuksellinen.

[iBushra.]

“when hope was dead—when I knew it was all a dream—I couldn't kill it!”

[Jared Della Rocca · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written play about infectious madness. Spectacularly done!