'The Seafarer' not average warm, fuzzy holiday tale

Even for those of you who choose to put up your Christmas tree before Thanksgiving, Pure Theatre's production inaugurating its sixth season, which opened Saturday night, is still a tad early.

While the setting for the play is indeed the holiday season, Conor McPherson's "The Seafarer" is hardly a typical Santa Claus story.

It is a hard-hitting drama that packs an especially powerful punch as directed by Pure's co-founder and artistic director Sharon Graci.

Her hand-picked cast of five men, veterans all, play off each other and to and through each other in consummate ensemble fashion.

Rodney Lee Rogers' Sharky is a study in deep-seated melancholy befitting a poor Irish lad, a demanding role that Rogers captured perfectly.

David Mandel turns in another finely honed performance as Ivan, while R.W. Smith breezes in with irrepressible enthusiasm as Nicky.

Rage, fear, death and despair, alcoholism, haunting and hurting, sprinkled with humor — basically, everything Irish — provide the undercurrents that are realized in Mr. Lockhart.

Mark Landis offers a meticulously sculpted performance, emanating a near-palpable sense of impending doom. Stay rooted to your chair at Circular Congregational Church for a couple of twisted, haunting hours.