Geffen Playhouse
Runs through May 24
Four paws
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When Sharky walks slowly down the rickety stairs as the Geffen Playhouse’s “The Seafarer” opens, the last thing you expect him to find on Christmas Eve morning is his elderly brother terribly hung over, asleep behind an armchair.
But that is exactly what he does find, and that surprise is mild compared to what the rest of the play has in store.
“The Seafarer” revolves around a game of poker involving five men, not all of whom realize the terribly high stakes of the game and most of whom are inordinately drunk.
When three of the men go to chase away the winos outside, the audience finds out that one of the remaining men, Mr. Lockhart, has come to claim Sharky’s soul.
The host of this poker game is Sharky’s crotchety, near-blind brother Richard, hilariously portrayed by John Mahoney (“Frasier”).
Mahoney’s performance is hilarious because it is so realistic, and unfortunately a crotchety old man’s rants can get a little tiresome, as they do throughout the play.
As Richard’s angry shouts become painful, you find yourself siding with his poor brother Sharky, played by Andrew Connolly, a human version of Winnie the Pooh’s depressed donkey friend Eeyore, who otherwise is a bit too downtrodden to be likeable.
It is hard to find a character in this play who is particularly likeable, except for Ivan (Paul V. O’Connor), who coincidentally ““ or not ““ has the least amount of lines in the play and is characterized mainly by being the drunkest member of the gang.
Poor Ivan’s disoriented quest for his lost glasses and his wife’s punishment after she finds him having a few too many drinks at the bar provide a welcome comic relief to depressed Sharky’s moans and Richard’s angry demands.
The first act comes to a close surprisingly quickly, or at least it feels quickly because of the lack of action in the play.
“The Seafarer” relies on its witty and poignant dialogue to keep the audience’s interest, and it largely succeeds, though it could certainly benefit if Richard got up from his armchair or left his living room more than twice.
The poker game, and the play, ends when all three remaining players in the game get four of a kind, which seems a little too convenient.
The twist, however, which ties into Ivan’s lost glasses from the previous act, almost makes you forget the unlikelihood of everyone having such a similarly lucky hand in the same round of poker.
Instead, you are left to wonder how Ivan and his found glasses manage to save Sharky’s life and what would have happened if he hadn’t found them.
““ Jennifer Bastien, jbastien@media.ucla.edu.