[NEohioPAL] Review of Dobama Theatre's "The Seafarer"

[Bob Abelman]

Dobama offers intriguing Faust-on-a-bender dramady

 

Bob Abelman

 

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times,

The Morning Journal, Geauga Times Courier

Member, American Theatre Critics Association 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 12/9/11

 

 

If Faust had a taste for the drink he'd be right at home with the other tragic souls that congregate in Conor McPherson's Tony award-winning The Seafarer, currently on stage at Dobama Theatre. 

 

The Seafarer takes place in the dilapidated Dublin City home of two aging brothers, one blind and the other recently returned.   It's Christmas Eve and after preparing for an all-night liquor-saturated game of poker with their odd menagerie of friends, a mysterious stranger arrives to reclaim what he was promised 25 years ago.  

 

As is the Irish playwright's inclination (see last week's review of Ensemble Theatre's St. Nicholas), this play introduces us to very likable but seriously damaged men who, awash in sloppy, alcohol-induced unselfconsciousness, spend the evening licking their self-inflicted physical and emotional wounds.  It also has a touch of the supernatural to keep things interesting.

 

Above all else, this play offers an intriguing character study in human frailty.   Each of this play's occupants-even the mysterious stranger-has his own colorful pathology, which becomes particularly evident under the influence of alcohol.  Each of the play's talented performers chomps at the bit to embellish McPherson's poignant and playful writing and give his character's symptoms life and lungs.

 

Joel Hammer is absolutely wonderful as Sharky, the younger brother who is trying to forget his past and forge a sober future.  He is, of course, unsuccessful at both and wears his pain and frustration with quiet fortitude despite his nature to lash out in anger.  His piercing eyes, pulsing blood pressure, and brut physicality are magnetic.

 

As his older brother Richard, Bernard Canepari is delightful.  Thoroughly incapacitated-and blind-Canepari's Richard is joyously cantankerous and serves as the perfect springboard for McPherson's clever one-liners and sight gags. This includes the dart board and the randomly thrown darts throughout the living room, which is nicely designed by Mark Jenks.

 

Larry Nehring, Tom Woodward, and Charles Kartali round out the cast and are equally brilliant.  Nehring's charming everyman depiction of Ivan-that is, if every man had 80 proof Jameson coursing through his veins-is a pleasure to watch, particularly upon the realization that he has lost his glasses, his car, and his train of thought.  Ivan, as well as Woodward's built-for-comic-relief Nicky and Katali's silently menacing mysterious stranger, Mr. Lockhart, are fully realized, magnificently textured creations. There is not a moment in this production when the actors' intensity or integrity takes a breather. 

 

The only thing lacking in this production is the hilarity, as promised in the press release and the program, and the pacing that would keep us from noticing its absence.  

 

Much of the play's humor resides in its rapid, brogue-infused wordplay.  Director Scott Miller has an astute eye for detail and everything in this play unfolds with great intent and purpose but, on opening weekend, there was no established rhythm in the dialogue.  Too often the exchanges between characters, including the jumping on lines written into the script, seemed choreographed rather than organic, which slowed down play's pace and the comic timing of the delivery.  Consequently, the play seemed to drag.  This is certainly likely to improve with time, given the pedigrees of the players.   

 

The Seafarer makes for an odd selection for the traditional holiday slot, although it does offer a land of misfit toys of sorts and red noses due to Christmas cheer are in no short supply.  To some extent, the hope for redemption can be found in the storyline, but mostly this is a fine piece of theater very nicely performed.  

 

The Seafarer is a gift for avid theater goers, courtesy of Dobama Theatre.

 

The Seafarer continues through December 18 at the Dobama Theatre, 2340 Lee Road, Cleveland Heights.  For tickets, which range from $10 to $26, call 216-932-3396 or visit www.dobama.org.
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