To See or Not to See: The Seafarer

Playwright Conor McPherson’s absorbing tale, The Seafarer, takes center stage at the Irish Repertory Theatre.

In The Seafarer, Christmas Eve day and night unfold in a Dublin living room of an over-stuffed and old house. The house (with utterly fantastic and detailed set design by Charlie Corcoran) belongs to Richard (Colin McPhillamy), a perpetual drunk who’s recently gone blind from an accident that happened while he was drinking. His out-of-work younger brother Sharky (Andy Murray) has been returned home to live with him to help out; he has recently decided to stop drinking. Also at the house most of the time is Ivan (Michael Mellamphy). A friend from the neighborhood, he joins Richard in his daily drinking habits, essentially getting kicked out of his home by his wife for the holiday.

After an afternoon of holiday shopping and revelry, the trio return home. There they are joined by Nicky (Tim Ruddy), another big drinker from town–who also happens to be dating Sharky’s ex-wife–and a mysterious stranger, Mr. Lockhart (Matthew Broderick). Mr. Lockhart befriended Nicky on an epic pub crawl around the city which appears to continue at Richard’s home.

Mr. Lockhart suggests that the five men play a game of poker. It soon is evident that Sharky and Mr. Lockhart met twenty-five years earlier. Sharky’s drinking aided him in beating to death a vagrant; so, he landed in jail. There, Sharkey won a game of poker against Mr. Lockhart which granted him his freedom on the condition of a rematch–someday when it suited Mr. Lockhart. Can you guess who Mr. Lockhart truly is?

Director Ciaran O’Reilly leads this ensemble through this really solid production. He deftly keeps them moving through questions of faith, being responsible for your actions, and what happens when you have to endure the hard knocks of life.

Unfortunately, the weakest part of the production was Matthew Broderick’s performance as Mr. Lockhart. While he played an unassuming, odd-man-out quite well, he lacked the menace that should be radiating off a devil-in-disguise character. Even when he burst forth in seething anger, he didn’t feel like someone who could take a soul away or scare the living daylights out of someone.

The ensemble is, overall though, a really well-acted machine. All five seamlessly traverse the witty, darkly comedic dialogue in Irish brogue and make these characters entirely believable and sympathetic. Andy Murray particularly stands out as Sharky. The depth of his inner struggle is the lynch pin of the play.

These characters drink to live and live to drink. When it’s hard for these men to see their paths in life clearly, they drink to erase it all even as they strive for better. And, unlike a night of intense drinking, when all is said and done, The Seafarer will linger on in your memory.

For more information on The Seafarer, click here.

Photo Credit: Carol Rosegg