The Seafarer July 13, 2012

O’Punksky’s
in partnership with Darlinghurst Theatre Company
presents
THE SEAFARER
By Conor McPherson
Directed by Maeliosa Stafford

Darlinghurst Theatre
Friday 13 July – Sunday 12 August 2012
Opening Night Tuesday 17 July 2012

Starring Patrick Connolly, Patrick Dickson, John O'Hare, Maeliosa Stafford and William Zappa

The perfect sinister tale for a midwinter’s night
Nominated for 4 Tony Awards including Best Play
& 2 Laurence Olivier Awards

Conor McPherson’s dark and enthralling multi award nominated play, The Seafarer has its Australian premiere at the Darlinghurst Theatre from Friday, 13 July to Sunday, 12 August.

Inspired by an eighth century Anglo-Saxon poem of the same name, The Seafarer was nominated for four Tony Awards and two Olivier Awards and in 2008 Jim Norton was awarded the Tony Award for Featured Actor in a Play.

It’s Christmas Eve on the north coast of Dublin. Four old friends are settling in for their annual booze fuelled Christmas ritual of camaraderie and conversation with a hand or two of cards and a gripe or two to settle over recent misdeeds.This year they are joined by a stranger picked up along the way, who brings a bottle of the finest whiskey and a wallet full of cash. He is made as welcome as any stranger might hope for on a cold winter’s night…but this particular stranger is the Prince of Darkness himself, and he is playing for souls.

McPherson uses a blend of myth, poetic narrative and hilariously dark and contemporary dialogue to re-fashion an old tale, with an ace or two up his sleeve.

“Seafarer is a brilliantly bleak, dark tale which is both real and mythological at the same time. It is full of sad, despairing, lonely and angry men, who for all their faults are heart-achingly human. The acting and characterisation will be vividly accurate and will serve a brilliant text simply and honestly,” said Director Maeliosa Stafford.

Twenty two years ago, at the Crossroads Theatre in Darlinghurst, a bunch of young actors presented ‘Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme and it was a hit. (Fringe Fest Play of the Year and Critic’s Circle nomination for Maeliosa Stafford’s direction.) Since then Maeliosa, John O’Hare and Patrick Dickson have collaborated, here and in Ireland, on a dozen projects. And if there is a theme to their work it is ‘men and their difficult relationships’. So as O’Punksky’s aged so did the characters they explored. And the quality of the work deepened. The Gigli Concert was “play of the year” (Sun Herald) and Leo Schofield wrote “… three of the most mesmerizing performances I’ve ever seen….” Now, in The Seafarer, the relationships are explosive, the men in their 50s, and O’Punksky’s are together again in their element.

“O’Punksky’s has been working together for over twenty years and yet again we find ourselves exploring the underbelly of the male psyche with McPherson’s clever and haunting play, The Seafarer. It’s a riotous black comedy with a sinister dark side and a beautiful twist,” said Actor Patrick Dickson.

SEAFARER turns gloom into riotous comedy…
Sunday Independent

Poetic, Brutal, Athletic, Hilarious…
The Sunday Times

Mr. McPherson is considering the impenetrable, scary mystery that is being alive and the blundering ways that poor humans deal with it … While avoiding straightforward exposition, the hearty conversation creates complete and subtle portraits of self-sabotaging lives scarred by unconscious cruelty, willed forgetfulness, fractured relationships and, above all, a sense of loss.
New York Times

With Patrick Connolly, Patrick Dickson, John O'Hare, Maeliosa Stafford, William Zappa
Director Maeliosa Stafford
Designer Amanda McNamara
Costume Designer Alison Bradshaw
Lighting Designer Tony Youlden

The Seafarer
At Darlinghurst Theatre, 19 Greenknowe Ave Potts Point
DATES: 13 July – 12 August;
OPENING NIGHT Tuesday 17 JULY
TIMES: Tuesday - Saturday at 8pm; Sundays at 5pm; Saturday 4 & 11 August at 3pm
TICKETS: Preview $28; Adult $38; Student/ Conc$33; Senior$33; Groups 10+ $33
BOOKINGS: Darlinghurst Theatre Box Office on 8356 9987 or www.darlinghursttheatre.com