‘Seafarer’ a haunting, hilarious holiday tale

Set in the basement room of a house in Baldoyle, a coastal town north of Dublin, on Christmas Eve morning through Christmas Eve night, Pherson’s comic drama at first appears to be about nothing more than the everyday life of three low-life chums as they stumble through the holiday.

But eventually it becomes clear that not all lives in Baldoyle are commonplace: The existence of one man, Sharky Harkin (John Decker), is anything but. Sharky and his brother Richard (Steve Beall) live together in the house they grew up in. Richard, who was recently blinded by falling into a Dumpster, is essentially helpless. He drowns his sorrows in alcohol and orders Sharky about.

Sharky responds as a dutiful sibling, getting tea and breakfast to sober up Richard and their friend Ivan (Ted Schneider), going shopping to make sure there is food in the house on Christmas Day, giving Richard baths and cleaning up the house. Although he is the younger brother, Sharky is the only man who isn’t drinking massive amounts of alcohol and thus seems to be the soul of responsibility.

But Sharky has a past and it comes back to haunt him that Christmas Eve. McPherson spins out a long interval of chitchat in order to establish background details regarding Ivan’s unforgiving wife and Sharky’s ex. Then the three men are joined by two visitors who come to say hello and stay to play cards: Nicky Giblin (David Dubov) and a curiously out-of-place, well-dressed stranger named Mr. Lockhart (Andy Brownstein).

It’s Lockhart who confronts Sharky about a violent episode in his past, which Sharky has done his best to forget. But Lockhart is not simply a stranger in town playing an innocent card game with some newfound friends. When he is alone with Sharky, Lockhart admits that he is “the snake in the garden” and that he has come to possess Sharky’s soul. If he wins at poker, Lockhart takes Sharky to hell with him that night.

Directed by Jack Sbarbori, the ensemble at Quotidian works well together. Their personality quirks and differences are strung together like mismatched bulbs on a string of Christmas tree lights. Decker plays Sharky as calm and soft-spoken throughout the play, responding to Richard’s commands with a resigned attitude. When Lockhart threatens him with eternal damnation, his calm turns to quiet shock and he begins to drink heavily.

Beall is effective as the loud and demanding Richard, whose high spirits are just a cover for a deep depression about his life. Schneider is entertaining as Ivan, a generous, simple guy who can never seem to do the right thing — until the last moment of the play.

Dubov is effective as the fast-talking, slightly shady Nicky, who is now living with Sharky’s ex-wife. Brownstein gives a cool and collected portrayal of Lockhart, one of the most entertaining characterizations of the devil ever written. Brownstein’s description of hell is bone-chilling.

Sbarbori’s set juxtaposes fragments of Irish life with the life of the Harkin brothers: a poster for Harp beer, family photographs, a sad table-top Christmas tree with a soccer ball instead of a star on top.

Despite Lockhart’s threats, “The Seafarer” has a happy ending — not saccharine or incredible, just upbeat enough for a Christmas message of cheer to flutter through.