Game of love
MICHAEL SMITH World Entertainment Writer 12/03/2002
Lisa McCrossen plays Alice, a stripper, who meets up with Larry, a doctor, played by Don Miller, in a scene from "Closer." The play examines the intertwined relationships of four people in London in the ’90s. Below: Larry gets violently verbal with Anna, played by Marnie Ducato. Photos by EVAN SEMON / Tulsa World
'Closer' sketches brutally honest anatomy of modern love with its harsh realities
Patrick Marber's play "Closer" is a play about love and everything else that goes with it. Which means it's also about jealousy, lust, deceit, attraction, disgust and disillusionment.
As much as anything, the play is about honesty, says director Vern Stefanic, whose Theater Club production of the acclaimed romantic comedy/brutal anatomy of modern love opens Thursday night.
"When we talk about honesty, it's not like honesty in a confessional," Stefanic says. "It's honesty, like, 'I'm going to use our sexual intimacy like a weapon, because I know it's going to hurt you.' It's honest and frank and provocative and might encourage a lot of discussion between couples afterward -- if they want to allow themselves to go down that road."
Set in '90s London, "Closer" examines the dynamics of the intertwined relationships of four characters: Dan (played here by George Nelson), the journalist; Alice (Lisa McCrossen), the stripper; Larry (Don Miller), the doctor; and Anna (Marnie Ducato), the photographer.
Along the way, these people meet cute, get together, split apart, join with others and get together again in what might best be described as a messy dance. And it all unfolds in intense bursts that show little mercy for the characters or the audience, Stefanic says.
"We all kind of joke about that, because during the rehearsal process, we'll come to the end of a particularly intense scene, and the actors know when they're on, when we're getting the moment, and we've had that happen already in the process, and you come to the end of the scene and everybody just has to shake themselves and walk away," the director says, chuckling. "Typically there's nervous laughter, and somebody says something outrageously funny, because we've got to break that mood. Nobody could live with that intensity forever."
The playwright has said in an interview that he understands that people see the characters as being brutally frank to one another, but he emphasizes that in the play they're seen in extreme situations.
"You never see these people just hanging out, relaxing. You never see the middle of the relationships," Marber said. "They're in the extremes -- the beginnings and ends of affairs, the boring bits cut out. Had I shown you them always having a good time together, there wouldn't be a play."
In terms of language, the play is harsh in a way that one might favorably compare to Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" when it first appeared -- to the shock of many -- four decades ago. And yet, Stefanic says he doesn't "remember it being that bad" when he saw the original Tony Award-nominated version of the play on Broadway starring Natasha Richardson in 1999.
"I think that means that even though I know those words are used, I know there's something more going on," the director said. "I know that the language will reflect honestly the rage that these people are feeling, but that's not the point of the play. The point is the hurt that's gooing on, and the connection these people are trying to make, and the trouble that they're having in doing that.
"Some of this is very funny. Funny in the way that the human situation is often funny. Maybe it's that, in the beginning of every relationship we put our best foot forward, and these are people who would be articulate and in fact, in some cases, sophisticated about the human condition and love.
"They're not new to this game, and they're not mean people per se, and they actually say very funny and witty things that, for a while you might say, 'Oh, this is a Noel Coward work,' the way people drolly roll off some humorous barb.
"But in the play's second act, it becomes much darker. In fact, I'm trying to think of the humor in the second act, and I don't think there's a whole lot of joking around. The first act is funny. You have people who you actually like and can cheer for, you want them to get together. Then things change."
Michael Smith, World entertainment writer, can be reached at 581-8344 or via e-mail at michael.smith@tulsaworld.com.
Theater
Theater Club presents "Closer"
When: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, also 8 p.m. Dec. 12-14
Where: Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St.
Tickets: $8, may be reserved by calling 857-9154
NOTE: This play contains mature subject matter and sexually explicit language, which some may find offensive