Theatre Review
The Seafarer - Playing with Ire

by Sarah Teach

There’s much more chugging than sipping going on in Nantucket’s little Dublin tonight; and whether or not you’re Irish, you’re invited to become part of the frenzy and friendship. When you join this drunken fellowship of slovenly fools, you forget you’re in the audience at Centre Stage.  Actually, you forget you’re on Nantucket altogether, because all you care about is when it’s your turn to deal the poker cards.  But be ye warned that your company consists of the kinds of guys who hail the extreme classiness of “genuine dog skin jackets” while denying the detriments of alcoholism with exclamations like, “I’m half bollixed!”  You are in our island’s very own Ireland, immersed in the Celtic culture that is playwright Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer.  Theatre Workshop of Nantucket presents this Tony-nominated, dark comedy that comingles the harshest realities with uplifting joviality.

When the comedy twists suddenly into solemnity, the painful transactions of life are expressed with exaggeration but also with a poignant, familiar empathy.  It isn’t just the early morning gathering of empty beer bottles to which you can relate; it’s the rawness of human relationship with others and oneself.  We all know the acrid aches that life inevitably administers.  From immense love troubles to intense personal struggles, it is reassuring to see we’re not the only ones who deal with such things in our lives.  It grants us some perspective to witness others undergoing turmoil with upward-looking spirits (amidst their other spirits-related habit of downward swigging).

The cast is suspiciously natural in their buffoonery, to the point that you are delightfully surprised when you remember that they are each an accomplished professional – and/or Most Eligible Bachelor - in real life!  They are immaculately Irish in their accents, mannerisms, and dare I say, apparent proverbial drinking habits.  Director Ciaran Byrne was born and raised in Northern Ireland, and his genuine influence is no doubt the reasoning behind the cast’s utter credibility.  John Knox-Johnston is especially fun to watch as he adeptly embodies his character’s traits, from recent blindness to well-ingrained, stubborn stupidity.  Through the ebbs and flows of ordinary conversation, it is apparent that the cast and director have fully honored the playwright’s plainspoken vision for the story.  Bravo, gentlemen! Bravo!

But the people on stage aren’t the only ones whose hard work has blossomed into this fantastic show.  As morning breaks in the story, an expertly authentic sunrise glimmers onto the stage.  The work of Lighting Designer Sandra Galley is so good that you might be a little out of sorts when you recall that it’s actually dark outside!  Set Designer Eric Schultz paints a candid realism befitting for the story and its characters, complete with a most haggard-looking home and believable booze. (Their whiskey, of course, is drunk neat as a pin.)

The Seafarer exposes all the rawness of real life, from the lulls to the crises, yet also embraces life’s goofy gratifications.  After all, the truest hell is not one of fire and brimstone but of loneliness.  So get a babysitter, enjoy a Guinness or three downtown; and head over to Centre Stage for a theatrical experience that is truly Irish, but even more so, truly human.

You can watch The Seafarer Wednesday through Sunday from now until June 19.  Visit www.theatreworkshop.com for tickets and details.  If you’re anything like us, you’ll want to see it again and again.

Director Ciaran Byrne chose to share an excerpt from the ancient poem upon which playwright Conor McPherson based this play:

THE SEAFARER - C. 755 A.D., Anonymous

He knows not
Who lives most easily on land, How I
have spent my winter on the ice-cold sea
Wretched and anxious, in the paths of exile
Lacking dear friends, hung round by icicles
While hail flew past in showers...