I can't say I had particularly high hopes for "The Seafarer." I've seen two of Conor McPherson's other plays: The Weir (which I don't remember much about other than the logo, though I vaguely recall liking it) and Shining City (which was felt like a boring hour and a half setup for a two second twist payoff at the end). But, well I actually enjoyed it, go figure. The first act was slow, and I was sort of indifferent towards it at intermission. But the second act, and the inevitable twist ending turned out to be worth waiting for. I looked at my watch when it was over and was shocked to see that it had been two hours and forty minutes long - it felt much shorter (and not just because I thought I had read somewhere that the whole play was two hours including intermission...). The all male cast makes a very strong ensemble. The basic premise is that the devil comes on Christmas Eve to play poker for a man's soul. And of course, this being an Irish play, there is much drinking through the evening. I would like to say more, but I think anything more would spoil the play. It's better to go in not knowing too much. I had a whole other paragraph I had typed out, but I deleted it to avoid spoiling the play as much as possible. But anyway, I would chalk this one up in the pleasant surprise category.
