This was an excellent show that gave you shivers
Here's what I said for Sydney Arts Guide
http://www.sydneyartsguide.com/View-Review.asp?ReviewID=1166
This is the Australian premiere of this wonderful play by Conor McPherson in a tremendous production by O’Punskys and directed by Maeliosa Stafford. Inspired by an eighth century poem, and with references to McPherson’s THE WEIR and Beckett’s ENDGAME, it’s Christmas Eve on the coast north of Dublin. There is a dirty, very untidy , dank Irish basement that would ( if this was real life ) reek with half eaten soggy pizza, and overwhelm us with the smell of alcohol .There is a sad plastic Christmas tree and rather miserable decorations.
As the play begins, four old friends settle in for their traditional annual boozy ritual of camaraderie and long conversation with a game or two of poker. This year they are joined by a relative stranger collected along the way who brings a bottle of the finest malt whiskey and who has a seemingly bottomless pocket of cash. He’s made as welcome as any stranger can be on a freezing winter night .But – be warned – this stranger is the Prince of Darkness himself and he is playing for souls in fulfilment of bargains made long ago.
The play is full of dark Irish humour and the lilting rhythms of language (and plenty of strong language too). The five characters of THE SEAFARER are very sharply shaped and delineated.
The play has been described as, ‘a dark and enthralling Christmas fable of despair and redemption’. There are plenty of Christian (specifically Irish Catholic) analogies throughout.
As dirty, smelly Richard, a slovenly alcoholic recently blinded by a fall into a dumpster, Maeliosa Stafford is brilliant . Arrogant, he dominates his younger, soberer yet still drying out brother Sharky (Patrick Dickson) .
Sharky, who now cares for Richard, a divorcee recently returned from his chauffeuring job, is in some ways an ‘Everyman’. We eventually learn that Lockhart met him years ago and engineered Sharky’s release from prison and has now come to claim what considers he is owed.
Ruined layabout Ivan (Patrick Connolly) is an eager Irish leprechaun, whose background, and the disastrous consequences of his drinking, are also well known to Lockhart . Will Lockhart return as jokingly threatened on Good Friday and contact him?!
Nicky, a smarmy, greasy lad now keeping company with Sharky’s ex, is well played by John O’Hare.
William Zappa as Lockhart is magnificent. Cultivated and sophisticated, he is ( at least at first ) charming and polite and very elegantly dressed. (is the red lining of his outer coat another hint of who he really is?!). His appearance, about half way through the play’s first half, completely changes the play. From then on the play becomes ominous, tense and gripping with a steely desperate battle for at least one man’s soul.
Lockhart’s description of Hell as cold, trapped and lonely is superbly chilling. It is fascinating to learn that to Lockhart music is just ‘ugly noise’ – is this another subtle warning of his nature?!. He can at times be quite savage and threaten violence where necessary. It is also interesting to note that everyone else is always on a first name basis whilst he is is always the formal Mr Lockhart.
Sharky and Lockhart are McPherson’s voice to discuss philosophy and religion,- good and evil and whether anyone can amount to anything in life. The play is also a critique of how some men use alcohol to ‘ward off loneliness, blot out their sins and excuse their failures as husbands, friends, human beings...
There is also the metaphor for hidden failings and the symbolism in the fact that Richard is blind, Micky wears sunglasses and Ivan cannot find his glasses until the very end. The play is also structured so that the other characters rush off at times, leaving Lockhart alone with his intended victim.
This profound play asks lots of questions about life, death and morals .You will be tensely on the edge of your seat at certain points anxiously awaiting the outcome.
Do try and catch The Seafarer before it sails away from the Darlinghurst Theatre on Sunday 12th August, 2012.
© Lynne Lancaster
21 July, 2012
Tags: Sydney Theatre Reviews- THE SEAFARERS, Conor McPherson, Darlinghurst Theatre, O’Punskeys, Maeliosa Stafford, Patrick Dickson, Patrick Connolly, John O’Hare, William Zappa, Sydney Arts Guide, Lynne Lancaster, Wendy McDougall,
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