The Hairy Ape

It is about a beastly, unthinking laborer known as Yank, the protagonist of the play, as he searches for a sense of belonging in a world controlled by the rich.

However, when the rich daughter of an industrialist in the steel business refers to him as a "filthy beast", Yank undergoes a crisis of identity and so starts his mental and physical deterioration.

When he is called a “filthy beast” by Mildred in scene three, he begins to rebel against the upper class that he believes relies solely on him.

This aspect of the story qualifies Yank as the existential, or absurd, hero of the play in that he ends up devoting his entire existence to a meaningless rebellion that accomplishes nothing at all.

The affinity with the masculine has always been an important part of storytelling, but it takes on new meaning in the twentieth century in the light of rapid technological progress.

Despite demonstrating in The Hairy Ape O'Neill's clear belief that the capitalist system persecutes the working man, he is critical of a socialist movement that can't fulfill individual needs or solve unique problems.

Yank has also been interpreted as representative of the human condition, alienated from nature by his isolated consciousness, unable to find belonging in any social group or environment.

1930: A London production featuring African American actor Paul Robeson playing the lead white role, was a critical success, despite having only five performances.

[6] 1944: A low-budget film version produced by Jules Levey, released by United Artists, starred William Bendix, Susan Hayward, Dorothy Comingore, and John Loder.

According to a review in the New York Sun it had a "happy ending" and generally "made the story lighter and less loaded with social significance".

[7] 1987: Later notable productions by Peter Stein's revival 1996: A postmodern multimedia interpretation by the Wooster Group with Willem Dafoe playing the protagonist.

Deborah Martin of the San Antonio Express-News said of Brad Milne "His Yank is raw and hard to forget."

[9] Director Philip Boehm of Upstream Theater staged an acclaimed production of The Hairy Ape in St. Louis, Missouri later on that year.

2017: The Park Avenue Armory staged a production of The Hairy Ape starring Bobby Cannavale, directed by Richard Jones, and designed by Stewart Laing.

Critics deemed the play as showing “excessive use of monologues, the confusion or slowness of certain scenes, and the depressing monotony which follows all the pathetic 'moments.