The Seafarer

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Dark and grim, yet recommended

'Irish audiences will understand 'The Seafarer' better than those in New York or London' - so commented playwright Conor McPherson in the run-up to his work's Irish debut at Dublin's Abbey Theatre, earlier this month. Following acclaimed runs in London's West End and Broadway, 'The Seafarer', McPherson added, is a play which will "get under the skin of Irish audiences" in a way which other audiences are not attuned to.

True to his word, the alcohol-induced world of 'The Seafarer' - all bleakness and despair, sloshed around with hope and fate - is instantly recognisable to any Irish man, woman or child.

Each moment of humour and laughter - of which there are many - is underpinned with a grim, bleak reality. Nowhere is this more true than in the play's Christmas setting, a festive event in this country which is as much tempered by darkness, violence and argument as it is hope, peace and thanksgiving. In many ways 'The Seafarer' is the theatrical equivalent of The Pogues' 'Fairytale of New York' - a dark story of utter despair that somehow emits some light relief.

Sharky (Carney) is an alcoholic Dubliner who has returned to the city from the countryside on Christmas Eve to look after his ageing, alcoholic and recently blind brother, Richard (Stafford). Though Sharkey is battling to go his third day without having a drink, booze is in full-flow as Richard's drinking buddies Ivan (Wycherley) and Nicky (Drew) drop in for an evening of drinking and to play some cards. When the mysterious Mr Lockhart (Costigan) arrives, the stakes are raised ever higher as it becomes apparent that Lockhart is in fact the Devil and that he has come to take Sharky's soul.

'The Seafarer' is a work soaked in Irish culture. McPherson's story stems from the famed tale of Wicklow's 'Hellfire Club', where Satan is said to have appeared during a card game. Taking this Irish folklore tale as his starting point, McPherson's poetic and free-flowing prose weaves a tale, which taps into our relationship with alcohol; its ability to trap one; our contradictory manner; and our leanings towards religious symbolism. It is also a play about hope and redemption.

Though hysterically funny at times, any laugher is uncomfortably sown with grim reality. While audiences of other nationalities may laugh hysterically at Ivan's horrific "best-ever Christmas" (played out wonderfully by an excellent Don Wycherley) - a story which plays on the loveable, drunk, Irish rogue aspect to his character - Irish eyes will smile nervously at an ugly, but all-too-recognisable picture.

Here in McPherson's world, alcohol keeps everyone trapped and, though humour stems from the characters' inebriation, McPherson is damning of the drug's ability to tear one's life apart.

Battling with his demons, Sharkey is the play's most human character and, literally and figuratively speaking, the only one with his eyes truly open. Three of the play's other characters are blinded by alcohol - Ivan has lost his glasses, Nicky wears sunglasses indoors, while Richard is blind. Sharkey is also the only one to recognise the Devil, his cohorts numbed by the boozy world they're immersed in.

Though hope springs throughout the play, McPherson's latest moves through his usual themes of bleakness and despair. It is, you would think, his final in a series of plays which are no-doubt lent some autobiographical insight. As the 34-year-old has noted, he is all the characters in the play.

Bleak, hard-hitting and hysterically funny in a uniquely Irish way, 'The Seafarer' marks another triumphant rise in the young playwright's exemplary career to date, and is presented by an excellent cast, of which Wycherley and Carney excel. Highly recommended.  

Steve Cummins