The Seafarer

[ellen_datlow]

I saw the play last night, and this clinches it. I do not like Conor McPherson as a playwright. However, he is a marvelous director and always (at least for the three plays of his I've seen) uses excellent actors and that almost makes up for my dislike of his plays. Drunks, Irish drunks. Everyone drunk drunk drunk. Falling over drunk. Obnoxiously drunk. Rick Bowes, one of my theater companions, pointed out the slight similarity in structure to The Homecoming: prodigal relative (in this case younger brother) returns home to somewhat dysfunctional home and chaos ensues.
The first act is slow, the second gets better, when a stranger comes calling (I don't want to say more, as it would give a lot away). It's NOT a ghost this time though (the other two plays I saw by McPherson were ghost stories).

I went to see the play because of the nice article about David Morse in the NY Times--I remember him in the very first movie he made: Inside Moves. Baby faced then. Baby faced now, 27 years later. He and everyone else are very good.

Comments

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

For some reason, at first I thought you were talking about a play I read by this guy, where everyone is drunk drunk drunk, until I read the part about McPherson directing (since Synge has been dead for years and years). But I felt the need to link this anyway, just so I could say...doesn't Synge look eerily like Ben Affleck?

Ok, enough irrelevancies! I think I need sleep.

[ellen-datlow.livejournal.com]

Oh I've seen or read at least one of Synge's plays many years ago.
Ooooh. He does. How weird.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

It's like Ben Affleck: The Melancholy Years.

OK, I really am going to sleep now. Heh.