'Sea Horse' revolves around characters' verbal sparring

By Joseph T. Rozmiarek
Advertiser Drama Critic

•	'The Sea Horse' A Readers Theatre production Richardson Theatre, Fort Shafter 2 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 1 $6, 438-4480, 438-5230

It's hardly the place one would expect to find a clean motive.

But that's what playwright Edward J. Moore has banging on the door in the form of Harry Bales, a burly engine man.

Harry's been here before, often enough to have stowed some of his gear while he ships out. But barkeep Gertrude Blum keeps him standing outside in the rain — as punishment, it seems, for some transgression.

Gertrude is a hulking 200 pounds of nasty attitude. She runs a tight bar, with a sawed-off baseball bat to keep order and an equally short temper for anyone who crosses the line.

This night Harry crosses the line in the worst possible ways. He asks Gertrude to marry him. Then, he insists on knowing why she won't.

At heart, "The Sea Horse" is a two-character verbal duel. Like the creature for which the bar and the play are named, Harry wants to mate for life. Gertrude, emotionally and physically battered by a lifetime of abuse, fiercely defends her turf. The Readers Theatre challenges with this material are twofold: first, to convey its physicality; and second, to sustain interest in the cyclical conversation that makes up the play's psychic action.

Director Vanita Rae Smith and actors Jim Hutchison and Stefanie Anderson succeed by focusing on character.

Hutchison's Harry is kind, but not too bright, with a stubborn streak that makes "talk to me" his insistent mantra. Anderson's Gertrude is shrewd and wary, deftly avoiding the talk until it finally comes in an uncontrolled flood.

The reading overcomes the cliched elements and pulls the audience into the place, the characters, and the dramatic problem. Even the play's ending, which is never clearly certain, gives reason for hope.