The Time of Your Life

Synopsis:

Much like many of Chekhov's plays, The Time of Your Life might be said to be less concerned with the unfolding of events than with the characters and their interactions. Relatively little “happens” in the course of the play, although numerous events (such as the impending war and the longshoremen's strike) are alluded to.

The regulars at Nick's bar hang out through the afternoon and evening of one day in October 1939, drinking, placing bets, playing cards and pinball, and conversing with one another and with the patrons who stop by the bar. The wealthy, enigmatic Joe, who has been in the bar for six months, morning to night, strikes up a conversation with the lonely, troubled prostitute Kitty Duval. Two out-of-work young men, Harry— who dreams of success as a vaudeville comedian— and Wesley, a gifted black pianist, drift into the bar and are given jobs by Nick.

The peaceful mood in the bar is interrupted by the arrival of Blick, the chief of the Vice Squad, who threatens to close Nick's bar down if the saloon-keeper doesn't take steps to keep prostitutes out of his establishment. Nick tells Blick to leave, insisting that he doesn't pry into his customers' private lives, but Blick says he will return that evening.

The longshoreman McCarthy and the street cop Krupp, childhood friends who now find themselves on opposite sides of the labor dispute at the docks, drop by to converse with Joe. Tom, Joe's sidekick, who has fallen in love with Kitty, comes in to ask for Joe's help comforting the distraught Kitty. And an old drifter who looks like the legendary mountain man Kit Carson wanders in and begins relating tall tales of his life.

Joe and Tom remove Kitty from the unsavory New York Hotel, around the corner, drive down to the ocean for dinner, and then set her up with a new room at the classier St. Francis Hotel . While they are gone, Nick takes a call from a city official warning that Blick will be returning that night.

Later that night, Tom and Joe have returned to the bar, along with a society gentleman and his wife who are “slumming” at Nick's. The man sneers at his wife's interest in the humble scene around them, which includes “Kit Carson” teaching Joe how to load and shoot a gun, Tom and Joe having a gum-chewing contest, and Willie finally beating the pinball machine. Joe also arranges a truck-driving job for Tom, so that his faithful sidekick can finally make a life of his own, with Kitty.

Again, a peaceful mood is spoiled by intrusions from the city outside. Harry and Wesley return from their dinner break to report that there was a fight between the striking longshoremen and the police sent to protect the strike-breakers. Worried that a riot will ensue, Nick leaves the bar to walk over to the pier, while Joe goes to find a book of poems to comfort Kitty, who is already missing Tom.

While both are gone, Blick shows up with two police officers to raid the bar. They accuse Kitty of being a prostitute, and when she insists that she's a burlesque dancer, they try to force her to perform a striptease. “Kit Carson” tries to protect her, but Blick takes the old man outside and beats him. Joe returns with the books and intervenes, pulling Kitty off the stage and telling her to leave right away with Tom. When Wesley explains what Blick has done, the police officer begins to beat him too, until Joe pulls a gun. As Joe tries to shoot Blick, Nick returns, separating the two men and throwing Blick out of the bar.

Major Characters:

Nick – the saloon owner, a young Italian widower who lives with his mother and his young daughter

Joe – a mysterious, independently wealthy man who has been frequenting Nick's bar for months, he is “always superior” and “always thinking”

Tom –a big, simple-minded man who has become Joe's sidekick and assistant

Kitty Duval – a local prostitute who once aspired to be a singer and dancer, and who lives at a hotel around the corner from the bar

Harry – an awkward young man who aspires to be a comedian

Wesley – a musician who shows up seeking work at Nick's bar

Blick – the head of the Vice Squad for the San Franciso police, “the sort of human being you dislike at sight”

McCarthy – a longshoreman who works on the nearby piers, “sharp in perception… and gentle in spirit”

Krupp – a police officer who is “naïve, but essentially good”

“Kit Carson” – an elderly drifter who wanders in to Nick's bar

The Newsboy – a boy who sells newspapers on the street, but aspires to be a “lyric tenor”

The Arab – “a lean old man” who spends a lot of time in Nick's bar, but rarely speaks

Dudley – a young man, “ordinary and yet extraordinary… what he wants is simple and basic: a woman”

Elsie – a nurse at the Southern Pacific Hospital, and the object of Dudley 's affection

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