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A CurtainUp Review
Sea Marks


"And so I was wondering if you'd mind if I wrote to you by your Christian name? Timothea. I hope you don't think that I am in any way trying to court you, after all, two lives could not be more different than ours. But it's such a pretty name, that's all." — excerpt from Colm's letter to Timothea.
(L to R): Xanthe Elbrick and Patrick Fitzgerald
One can almost smell the salt of the sea in Gardner McKay's Sea Marks. A poignant love story about a long-distance relationship between two middle-aged people, is being directed by Ciaran O'Reilly at the Irish Rep's Main Stage as the final production of their 2013-14 season.

What is most charming about this play, set in the 60s, is that its two principals fall in love against the odds. There is Colm, a crusty fisherman living on a fictive island off the West coast of Ireland, and Timothea, a divorcee in her mid 30s who works at a publishing house in Liverpool. Having met at a wedding in Ireland, they fan the flame of romance for a year-and-a-half via handwritten letters and eventually become flesh-and-blood lovers.

Since McKay penned his work before the onset of social media. email, and online dating services, his play harks back to that day when paper and ink reigned and the post office played Cupid. Drawing on the classical tradition of letter-writing to serve as the catalyst for Timothea and Colm's relationship, McKay nostalgically captures the low-tech 60's on the cusp of the computer age.

True, McKay's play isn't all that original in its stage material. The subject of romantic love, in all its permutations, is as old as the sea. But McKay's gifted approach to the old problems, and big questions, is what makes his play hum. He ups the stakes and intensifies the pathos, largely through the physical miles that separate Timothea and Colm as well their steadily advancing age. In short, the sands of the proverbial hourglass are slipping away all too fast for and they are fully realizing the plain-and-simple truth: this could be their last chance for love.

Xanthe Elbrick and Patrick Fitzgerald are well-cast and quite capable of delivering the poetry interwoven into this lyrical work. Those who follow Irish-themed plays in New York may be familiar with Fitzgerald as the playwright of Gibraltar, a clever two-character adaptation of James Joyce's epic Ulysses which was staged on the boards of the Irish Repertory Theatre last June. While his talents as playwright are considerable, he is a veteran actor and firm fixture at Irish Repertory, having planted his roots there from their inaugural season. Perhaps the most potent aspect of his performance, however, is that he is reprising the part of Colm after 15 years. Not only has his Colm seasoned well since 1989, he illustrates that the fisherman character is a rich study of the Irish bachelor that doesn't need to be pinned down to just one numerical age.

Playing opposite Fitzgerald, Elbrick portrays Timothea with bite and zest. Her character is no Pollyanna, and in many ways, her Timothea is the stronger catalyst of the love affair. She has no pretensions and possesses candor in abundance. When she reveals the fact that she is a "farm girl underneath" her city guise and hails from a Welsh town called Glamorganshire, she surprisingly levels the field between Colm and herself.

Charlie Corcoran's set, along with Michael Gottlieb's poetic lighting, is visually eloquent. The opening scene reveals Colm's plain sea-coast home, complete with fireplace and tea kettle on the hearth. The following scene introduces Timothea, reading one of Colm's letters in her Liverpool home. One views her through a simple bay window, set against the backdrop of Liverpool's cityscape. It's a breathtaking tableau of quiet power.

Designing two juxtaposed sets on stage to represent the dual geographic locations of Ireland and Liverpool, shoehorned into a relatively small performing space is quite a challenge. But the designer pulls it off by strategically placing the settingss diagonally, with one upstage and the other downstage.

Leon Dobkowski's costumes are in turn rough-hewn and salty for Colm and conservative for Timothea. Corcoran's costumes don't shout for attention but they literally add texture and resonate with each character's integrity.

Sea Marks is a brew of sea foam, haddock, Guinness, and love letters. It's also an Irish parable that teaches one about the peculiar twists of real love at middle-age.

For more details about the play, including a few sticking points, check out Elyse Sommer's review of another production of the play: Sea Marks Review at Shakespeare & Company

Sea Marks by Gardner McKay
Directed by Ciaran O'Reilly
Cast: Xanthe Elbrick (Timothea), Patrick Fitzgerald (Colm).
Sets: Charlie Corcoran
Costumes: Leon Dobkowski
Sound: M. Florian Staab
Music: Ryan Rumery
Lighting: Michael Gottlieb
Stage Manager: Jeff Davolt
Running time: 1 hour: 45 minutes with intermission
The Francis J. Greenburger Mainstage at the Irish Repertory Theater, at 132 W. 22nd. Tickets: $ 55-$65. 212-727-2737 or www.irishrep.org
7/13/15/14.
Wednesday @ 3pm and 8pm; Thursday @ 7pm; Friday @ 8pm; Saturdays @ 3pm and 8pm; Sundays @ 3pm.
Reviewed by Deirdre Donovan based on press performance of 5/03/14
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