Dublin-born playwright Conor McPherson is no stranger to the world of theatre, having written the Bob Dylan musical Girl From The North Country, the recent West End revival of The Weir and the bizarre stage adaption of The Hunger Games on Stage. His adaptation of The Cherry Orchard is now also playing at the Harold Pinter Theatre.
Now, twenty years since it premiered at London’s National Theatre, The Seafarer has been revived at Greenwich Theatre and contains everything you would expect from a Conor McPherson story – Ireland, alcohol and a yearning to understand the human condition.
Set in a coastal suburb of Dublin, The Seafarer centres on James “Sharky” Harkin, an alcoholic trying to stay sober while caring for his irascible, blind brother, Richard. On a bleak Christmas Eve, their drinking and bickering spirals into a high-stakes psychological game of poker when a mysterious stranger, Mr Lockhart, arrives to play for a prize that has been decades in the making…
McPherson’s play explores redemption, guilt and the ghosts that refuse to leave us behind. It all takes place over a single evening, almost in real time.
The acting is superb. The ensemble of five men (Eugene Duffy as Sharky, Ian Cooke as Richard, James Ross Turner as Ivan, Nick Thomas as Nicky and Matthew Flexman as Mr Lockhart) shows how we’re all just trying to navigate our way through life, dealing with the cards we’ve been dealt as we go. It never goes into too much detail about any one character’s past (even if I wanted it to at times) and instead keeps its focus on the central story.
The set design is wonderful, with a cosy Irish home feel, even if it could do with someone running a hoover around.
The Seafarer is a great play, as you’d expect from a writer of this calibre. It’s a play well worth seeing – I’d bet my life on it – but would you?
★★★★
Reviewed by West End Wilma
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
RUNNING TIME: 2hrs 20min (60 minutes / 20 minute interval / 60 minutes)
THEATRE: Greenwich Theatre (Main House)
AGE RECCOMENDATION: 14+
DATES: 13 – 24 Oct 2026
TICKET PRICE: £26.50
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Alcohol misuse and dependency, strong language, references to suicide, themes of death and emotional distress.
