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The Seafarer
| Opening Date |
9 December 2009 |
| Closing Date |
30 January 2010 |
| Time |
7.30pm |
| Director |
Conor McPherson |
| Writer |
Conor McPherson |
Cast
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Don Wycherley, Liam Carney, Maelíosa Stafford, Nick Dunning, Phelim Drew |
| Ticket Price |
€20 - €33 |
Venue
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Abbey Theatre
Lower Abbey Street
Dublin 1 |
| Phone |
(01) 8787222 |
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Devil-may-care
What to expect from a play entitled 'The Seafarer'? Waves for one. Maybe add some hardy weather-beaten sailors propping up the bar of some dubious portside establishment with colourful tales of sea voyages fraught with danger, their cackling laughs echoing throughout it's draughty environs... throw in some rope and a buoy and everything fits nice and neatly into its box, no surprises. Or so one would think. If, unlike me, you are an avid reader of Old-English poetry you will no doubt have realised that 'The Seafarer' refers in fact to a famous poem that demonstrates the fundamental Anglo-Saxon belief that life is shaped by fate. With that in mind, Conor McPherson opens his play on the morning of Christmas eve in the living room of an ordinary two-up two-down house in Baldoyle, Co. Dublin. Quite.
Holed up in the house is the irascible Richard (Maelíosa Stafford),a hard-drinking, demanding, middle-aged man who has recently lost his sight; his younger brother, James "Sharky" (Liam Carney), who has moved in to help him over the festive period and their dim-witted but lovable neighbour Ivan (Don Wycherley). While not a scene of domestic bliss exactly (one too many mentions of "bog roll" eliminates any sense of the cosy), the play nevertheless manages to lull the onlooker into a false sense of security as the actors make their Christmas shopping list and attend to the menial tasks of breakfast and...um boozing. It's not until the smarmy Nicky (Phelim Drew) and an unexpected guest by the name of Lockhart (Nick Dunning), show up for a card game later that evening that events take a darker twist. It soon becomes clear that debts have to be repaid and not of the monetary kind.
Dubbed McPherson's best play to date, it is rare to find a production that makes you laugh until your stomach hurts at some points, then changes tack so seamlessly that you find your giddiness checked and your sympathy engaged as you watch Sharky wrangle with his demons. The hapless Ivan played by the brilliant Don Wycherley, with his swollen beer gut and scraggly appearance, deserves a special mention as he comes to represent, at least for me, the naivety and the tenderness that counterbalances the evil lurking in the presence of Lockhart. With performances this fine-tuned and a script this well written it is little wonder that one involuntarily finds themselves caught up in the swell that is The Seafarer.
- Louisa McElwee
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