San Diego Repertory Theatre is staging this non-standard holiday fare by Conor McPherson that debuted on Broadway in 2007. Directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg, the show boasts a marvelous old Irish home designed by Robin Sanford Roberts and nice lighting touches by Eric Lotze.

While working within that set and under those lights is a quintet of strong performers led by local favorite Ron Choularton as Sharky. Ron finds the soul in this story with a masterful performance of a sensitive but self-loathing man beaten down by life, hanging on by a thread but resigned to let go. Armin Shimerman is excellent as Sharky’s blind and ornery brother whose more tender feelings for his sibling are mostly buried beneath the surface, but come out powerfully. Robert Townsend turns in a good performance as Nicky Giblin, an outwardly charming, handsome, confident playboy type who is with Sharky’s ex-wife, but who turns out not to be as cardboard a character as might be expected. Paul James Kruse is a hoot as boisterous comic-relief character Ivan Curry who has a history with the devil. And speaking of the devil, San Diego Rep’s artistic director and co-founder Sam Woodhouse takes the stage as the dapper and determined Mr. Lockhart who has a temper when angered, but can be most pleasant and easygoing when he gets what he wants. Like Mr. Dark in Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes, he thrives on our despair. Of which he finds much in Sharky.

The play itself struggles at first with a lot of dialogue that quickly helps establish the characters’ personalities, but it then seems to spend several minutes going nowhere and adding little, risking losing some of the audience. But if you stick with it, the plot eventually picks up. The play flirts with an intriguing insight into the deep, personal motivation of the Devil that might have added to the dramatic conclusion if more fully explored. As it is, the story succeeds in creating a very genuine anti-hero pushed to the edge, where he discovers he’s loved more than he realized. But is it too late for Christmas redemption?

Perhaps not a holiday show for the younger family members (the halls are decked with boughs of profanity), but it’s definitely good holiday fare for adults looking for something different and emotionally compelling.

November 14 - December 13, 2009

Photos by Erin Bigley

Rob Hopper
San Diego Playbill