Enthralling Christmas Fable at Theatre B

By Roland Finger
Staff Writer

‘Tis the season to see “The Seafarer,” a gritty play that puts A Christmas Carol and It’s a Wonderful Life to shame. This play puts you in the proper holiday mood, with a view of life over bottles of Irish whiskey and Guinness. Director Jennifer Tuttle sends sordid alcoholic waves of pain, guilt, and grimness washing over you; this is a real Christmas story, among family members and friends who are so screwed up, they approach reality.

Conor McPherson wroate this Christmas fable, taking us into the lives of two Irish brothers, Richard, recently blind from an accident, and Sharky, desperately trying to give up drinking over Christmas. If he can handle himself this Christmas, he might be able to pull his life out of the sewer. Richard, played by Hardy Koenig, is a stunning, crusty, wise-cracking, hard-drinking brother who claims that he doesn’t have many more holiday seasons left in him, so he needs to live this one up. It’s an excuse to drink, gamble, and gab, but Richard genuinely has an infectious love of fellowship and good cheer.

Scott Horvik plays Sharky, whose demons haunt him, at times crippling him upon the floor. Sharky is apparently in a bad mood because he hasn’t had a drink; he’s been medicating himself with alcohol for years, trying to control his temper. Now, Sharky has returned home as a kind of man-maid around the house, doing chores, wearing an apron, looking a touch emasculated. Sharky wants to get his life back together, as if he knew that a lot would depend upon tonight. Can Sharky get the tacky electric Jesus picture to glow? Will his Christmas candle in the window draw good tidings? You have see it to believe it.

These two brothers have a friend, Ivan, a constant drinking buddy, who might as well be one of the brothers because he doesn’t really spend time with his wife and kids. It’s no wonder he’s in the dog house with his wife. Ivan is ready and eager to join Richard in an attack on the winos in the neighborhood because there’s nothing like a good scrap to let you know that you’re still alive. Ivan cannot find his glasses, which bonds him to the sightless Richard. Richard and Ivan are desperate, drinking early in the morning with breakfast, finishing off the last of hidden bottles. But these two drinkers can have remarkable insights, a sense of vision that redeems them and the down-and-out brother, Sharky, revealing that he still has support when he needs it most.

This is a play about flawed people; the actors show guts and heart, letting us see how desperation drives deep humanity. The brothers and friends, including Nicky who now lives with Sharky’s ex-girlfriend and drives Sharky’s ex-car, can feel affection and kindness, much more than the well-dressed and polished outsider, Lockhart, a self-interested mystery man. Doug Hamilton plays a creepy, fiery Lockhart, an intruder.

Sharky’s masculinity and character are put to the test in this play devoid of female characters. This is a guy’s world, full of pain, machismo, cussing, and male-on-male tenderness. This is male-bonding over cards and a much better drama than today’s reality poker shows. Problems like unemployment, alcoholism, cirrhosis, don’t matter if you are still alive and kicking, playing in the great poker game of life with people you care about. This is one hell of a feel good Christmas story.

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If You Go

What: The Seafarer
Where: Theatre B, 716 Main Ave
When: Through Dec. 25, Thurs-Sat 7:30pm
Info: 701.729.8880