Like Dublin Carol's John Plunkett, The Seafarer's Sharkey Harkin (Francis Guinan) is reviewing his life and his regrets on a Christmas Eve in Dublin. Apparently never very successful in either work or romance, he's recently lost both his job and his lover, who happened to be his employer's wife. And, though he's as sad as Plunkett—perhaps even more so—his misery is alleviated for the audience by the comically un-self awareness of his crotchety, recently blinded and even more alcoholic older brother Richard (John Mahoney). Richard doesn't see the irony in his disdain for the "winos" that loiter in the back alley of his north Dublin home or begin to show the least shame in the needy and manipulative way he capitalizes on his new infirmity. Richard seems to lack the sort of remorse for past misdeeds and sense of failure that haunt Sharkey, but perhaps Richard is just too self-absorbed for such thoughts. Richard's blindness keeps him from seeing the broken man his brother has become and nothing prevents him from mercilessly teasing Sharkey over his shortcomings. Richard's unyielding sense of good cheer—as wicked as it frequently is—keeps the audience from getting stuck in the mire of the brothers' decaying lives. Comic relief is further provided by their friend Ivan (Alan Wilder), who is more cognizant of the problems caused by his alcoholism but seems to have accepted them. In any event, he still has his wife, however turbulent his marriage may be, and has not yet sunk to the level of despair facing Sharkey. Neither has Nicky (Randall Newsome), Sharkey's goofy rival with whom Sharkey's ex-lover Eileen has taken up.