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Director Mandi Riggi
Cast: Rachael Bellis, Jay Rincon
Dates of run: Until November 15
Running Time: Approximately 1hr 45mins, including Interval.
Gertrude, as she sees herself, is plump and plain. She expects only sex, not love and that relationships should be purely business matters.
Harry, on the other hand, back from soul-searching at sea, literally and metaphorically, and with the charm to win a woman in every port, has decided she is going to be his bride.
With expertly paced direction by Mandi Riggi and utterly absorbing performances by Rachael Bellis as Gertrude and Jay Rincon as Harry, the shifting dynamic between these wary lovers makes for a perfect two-hander: the entry of a third character would be an intrusion; the narrow focus and single location is the point.
It all starts as it means to go on with jolts, resistance and reluctant yielding as the sound-track shifts from the song “Lovin’ you is easy ‘cause you’re beautiful” to the crash of something being broken followed by an expletive, Harry hammering on the door and Gertrude only letting him in after he has been soaked by the rain.
That the performance keeps the audience gripped from the outset to the end is in part because of the slow revealing of past pain that makes Gertrude so hard to get, forces Harry to keep changing his strategy and yet never makes him flinch.
The role of Intimacy Director Candace Leung is also instrumental in making us believe in the chemistry.
One of the many deft surprises is Harry’s drip-feed delivery of a song sung by his fellow seafarers that mocks Gertrude. He tells her she must tell him to stop if it at any point she is offended. Shockingly, she allows him to get to the end.
There is pathos, there is anguish, underlined by an almost subliminal use of musical strains, there is humour and ultimately hope.
Fifty years after its Broadway premiere, this London revival makes Edward J. Moore’s exploration of why a woman might find it almost impossible to trust a man as relevant as ever.
The Sea Horse,
Golden Goose Theatre, London
by Edward J. Moore
Director Mandi Riggi
Cast: Rachael Bellis, Jay Rincon
Dates of run: Until November 15
Running Time: Approximately 1hr 45mins, including Interval.
Gertrude, as she sees herself, is plump and plain. She expects only sex, not love and that relationships should be purely business matters.
Harry, on the other hand, back from soul-searching at sea, literally and metaphorically, and with the charm to win a woman in every port, has decided she is going to be his bride.
With expertly paced direction by Mandi Riggi and utterly absorbing performances by Rachael Bellis as Gertrude and Jay Rincon as Harry, the shifting dynamic between these wary lovers makes for a perfect two-hander: the entry of a third character would be an intrusion; the narrow focus and single location is the point.
It all starts as it means to go on with jolts, resistance and reluctant yielding as the sound-track shifts from the song “Lovin’ you is easy ‘cause you’re beautiful” to the crash of something being broken followed by an expletive, Harry hammering on the door and Gertrude only letting him in after he has been soaked by the rain.
That the performance keeps the audience gripped from the outset to the end is in part because of the slow revealing of past pain that makes Gertrude so hard to get, forces Harry to keep changing his strategy and yet never makes him flinch.
The role of Intimacy Director Candace Leung is also instrumental in making us believe in the chemistry.
One of the many deft surprises is Harry’s drip-feed delivery of a song sung by his fellow seafarers that mocks Gertrude. He tells her she must tell him to stop if it at any point she is offended. Shockingly, she allows him to get to the end.
There is pathos, there is anguish, underlined by an almost subliminal use of musical strains, there is humour and ultimately hope.
Fifty years after its Broadway premiere, this London revival makes Edward J. Moore’s exploration of why a woman might find it almost impossible to trust a man as relevant as ever.
Barbara Lewis © 2025.
By Barbara Lewis • added recently on London Grip, plays, theatre • Tags: Barbara Lewis, plays, theatre