Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1994. [Vol. 2.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 22)

STUDIES - Mária Kurdi: "You just have to love this world." Arthur Miller's The Last Yankee.

latter part of Miller's oeuvre Clara, one of the two so far neglected pieces in Danger: Memory! (1987) anticipates The Last Yankee with its ending on a note of affirmation after a thorough self-search, in spite of its tragic content On the verge of tears, the deserted Lyman in the closing lines of The Ride Down Mount Morgan exclaims: "What a miracle everything is! Absolutely everything!"

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1 With an extended and successful run in two London theatres, first the Young Vic then the Duke of York's behind it, The Last Yankee has proved to be a genuinely apt piece for the stage. The director and actors deserve praise in bringing out the value of the play with great sensitivity and taste. The ward was placed on a raised platform, as if it were "in limbo ... surrounded by a sea of blue."

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2 The setting joined the real and the surreal together; in the pastel-coloured, dreamlike atmosphere inner movements were felt to be taking place, while the quite familiar-sounding everyday problems of middle-aged Americans spoke aloud. The cast was perfect, resulting in an extremely suggestive, life-like acting and well-balanced employment of gestures. What Where happened to become Beckett's final work written for the stage. It leaves the audience with the words: "Make sense who may. I switch off."

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3 Beckett did, in fact, but his work, infinitely rich in meanings, remains with us. "In its plea to live in the now, acknowledging yet breaking free of a damaging past," Miller's play "is a short but potent coda to a lifetime of social concern.", as was written in The Times.

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4 One thing remains certain; supported also by its outstanding theatrical success, The Last Yankee is the best work Miller has written for the last decade. It will continue to attract all who wish to make sense of their lives. 2

1 Arthur Miller, The Ride Down Mount Morgan (London: Methuen Drama, 1992) 88. op Jane Edwards's review of The Last Yankee from Time Out, reprinted in: Theatre Record

, 489. no Samuel Beckett, What Where, in: The Collected Shorter Plays of Samuel Beckett (New York: Grove Press, Inc., 1984) 316. 2

4 Jeremy Kingston's review of The Last Yankee from The Times, reprinted in: Theatre Record, 489. 75