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| Edward J. Moore, Conchatta Farrell. |
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| Conchetta Farrell, Edward J. Moore. |
This much admired play, produced by the Circle Rep, was the
third in little more than a year to be transferred from an Off-Off to an
Off-Broadway mounting. Author Edward J. Moore, who played Harry Bales, at first
used the penname of James Irwin. He had his authorial billing changed only
when, after the play’s successful Off-Broadway opening, the press learned of
his contribution.
The Sea Horse was
a perfect match for the deft naturalism in which Circle actors and their
director, Marshall W. Mason, specialized. It was performed within a thoroughly
realistic set of a West Coast waterfront saloon, the Sea Horse, presided over
by the fat, feisty, but distrustful Gertrude Blum (Conchatta Ferrell). The only
other character an employee named Harry Bales, who loves both fixing things and
Gertrude Blum.
The action centers on his attempts to break down the
independent-minded Gertrude’s defenses, and get her to acknowledge her
affection for him so they can get married. He uses all the ploys at his
disposal, especially humor, to expose her vulnerability. By the play’s end, a rapprochement
seems entirely possible.
Moore succeeded in making his characters seem alive and
interesting, and the acting and direction were perfectly complimentary to the
dramatic needs. The major problems were said to include the overuse of naval
machinery sound effects imitated by Harry as he describes them, and too
artificial a recounting by Gertrude of her unhappy life’s experiences. The
remainder, however, was “honest and intelligent in most ways, and the dialogue
abounds in comic as well as serious felicities,” wrote John Simon. Walter Kerr,
though, argued that the play, “briskly written and cagily acted,” was marred by
“a strong sense of arbitrariness, a calculated rise and fall of temperature.”
Ferrell won an OBIE for Distinguished Performance, as well
as a Theatre World Award and a Drama Desk Award. Moore was also honored by the
Drama Desk, as Outstanding New Playwright.
