The reviews are in for The Seafarer, Conor McPherson’s Christmas Eve drama of poker, drink and a soul put up as the stake, revived at Greenwich Theatre for its 20th anniversary in a new Colour Noise production directed by Ian Higham. Eugene Duffy plays Sharky, newly sober and minding his blind brother Richard (Ian Cooke) when Matthew Flexman’s Mr Lockhart arrives for the game. The independent critics are warm on the whole and agree on two things: the five-man ensemble, with Cooke’s Richard the name mentioned most, and the tension of the second-act card game. Where they part company is the first act, which RatedReviewed and Theatre and Tonic both find long in the setting up.
The verdict: six reviews in so far, five of them rated: three four-star notices, one at three and a half and one at three, an average of 3.7 out of 5. South London Press publishes no rating. Every critic credits the ensemble, and the most frequent reservation is the length of the first act.
What are critics saying about THE SEAFARER?
Everything Theatre
Reviewer: Dean Wood
Dean Wood credits Higham’s staging with trusting the writing, and hears in the dialogue the natural rhythm of a real family dodging its feelings with jokes. He picks out Ian Cooke as the standout of a strong cast, and finds the menace between Duffy’s Sharky and Flexman’s Lockhart keeps the supernatural element anchored in reality. A small production, in his view, that loses nothing by its size.
“The Seafarer in its new incarnation proves that you don’t need a big cast or a lavish set to build a massive world.”
West End Wilma
West End Wilma calls the acting superb and enjoys a play that delivers everything expected of McPherson: Ireland, alcohol and the search for what makes people tick. The review would have liked a little more of each character’s past, but approves of the play keeping its eye on the central story, and of a lived-in Irish set that could, it notes, do with a hoover.
“It’s a play well worth seeing – I’d bet my life on it – but would you?”
The Theatre Reviewer
Reviewer: Anthony
Anthony enjoys the way the evening moves from laughter to unease, and singles out Simon Crump’s cluttered, decorated set and Martin Jessop’s lamplit lighting. He finds Duffy compelling, Cooke wonderfully entertaining and Flexman genuinely unsettling, with the Duffy and Flexman scenes the strongest. His only real complaint is that the pace drops in some of the longer conversations.
“A devilishly entertaining night of theatre that proves a bottle of whiskey and a game of poker can be a dangerous combination!”
RatedReviewed
“Poker & Poitín”
Reviewer: Christine Stanton
Christine Stanton is the most divided of the critics. She finds the first act slow and leaning too hard on slapstick and toilet humour, and thinks it could be shortened. The arrival of Nicky and Mr Lockhart changes everything for her, though, and she rates the second act, built around the poker game, as gripping, with the cast working brilliantly together.
“The final poker game is a nail-biter, and the suspense is palpable…”
Theatre and Tonic
Reviewer: Penny
Penny likes the shabby, festive living room and the bickering humour, but finds the opening scenes low-key, with some lines lost to a delivery better suited to the screen than this stage. The pace picks up with Nicky and Lockhart’s arrival, the card game is well staged and the twist satisfies. A few minutes off each act, she suggests, would keep the energy up.
“While it’s not as spooky as its premise suggests, there’s still plenty of tension and darkness beneath the surface humour.”
South London Press
“The real enemy in this sobering play is in the bottle”
Reviewer: Frankie Jenner
Frankie Jenner reads the play as being about guilt and drink rather than the devil, and admires a set that seems to smell of spilt beer. Flexman’s Lockhart is praised for hiding his intentions so well, Duffy for Sharky’s hollow resignation, and Turner and Thomas for their drinking buddies. The paper publishes no star rating.
“But it’s Ian Cooke as Richard that shines in this production”
Production photographs by Steven Lippitt.
For more from this week’s openings, see the critics on McPherson’s version of The Cherry Orchard at the Harold Pinter Theatre, Ghosts at the Jermyn Street Theatre and Baby at Brixton House.
The Seafarer runs at Greenwich Theatre until Saturday 24 October 2026, with a running time of 2 hours 20 minutes including an interval.
