CLOSER
by Patrick Marber
RECENT NEWS
The Gazette Review
April 26th 2013
by Pat Donnelly
Up Close and Personal with Closer at MainLine Theatre
In British playwright Patrick Marber’s award-winning play, Closer, an X-rated conversation between two men (one of whom is posing as a woman) in an Internet chat room, proves hilarious. But it also leads to byzantine complications in their love lives.
A young company called RAW Productions is currently presenting this dark, sophisticated comedy about four spoiled and rather tiresome people, at MainLine Theatre.
The frolicksome foursome includes an obit writer named Dan (Lucas Chartier-Dessert), a stripper named Alice (Karine Kerr), an art photographer named Anna (Stephanie Coco-Palermo), and a doctor named Larry (Alex Gravenstein).
The smutty repartee flies fast and nasty, as required, in this production directed by Alex Goldrich. Marber’s writing may be annoyingly chauvinistic, but it’s seldom boring. All four actors have their moments. (Try not to think about the movie. Different medium.)
Two performances remain, tonight, April 26, 2013 and tomorrow night, April 27, both at 8 p.m. The tickets are relatively cheap at $20, or $15 for students.
File this one under date night fare, on The Main.
Mobtreal Review
April 25th 2013
by Donald Rees
Closer is a witty, deeply emotional play with characters that are hard to cheer for but uncomfortably relatable. It’s the story of four people who meet, fall in love, fall out of love, fall apart and try to find themselves.
Maybe you’ve seen the movie. In 2004, an all-star cast brought the already well-known play to life featuring Julia Roberts, Nathalie Portman, Clive Owen and Jude Law. When I say ‘already well-known’, I mean it. Closer is a very popular piece of theatre. Like The Laramie Project, it’s candy for emerging production companies and actors as well. A piece that requires only a minimal set and a small, manageable cast are only some of the qualities that make it attractive. Complicated characters that run the gamut from comedy to despair are also appealing to young actors looking to explore their range and bite off a challenge.
RAW Productions and first-time director Alex Goldrich tackle the subject matter at a breakneck speed, with the actors going through an obstacle course of emotions without any hesitation. It’s an almost Olympian task, and one that this tight cast of local performers rise to whole heartedly.
The play is told minimally with only a few props and set pieces. It’s clear within the first few minutes that this is a piece that requires top-notch actors, as it’s entirely about the performances – the words, the emotions. The story unfolds quickly, the characters deconstructing each other but it’s the ones doing the deconstructing that are the most fun to watch. It’s in these moments that the characters truly reveal themselves, their motives and weaknesses.
Karine Kerr (Alice) is a performer unafraid of taking risks. It’s not easy to leave yourself so exposed on stage, yet her focus and embodiment of the character are a joy to watch. Stephanie Coco Palermo (Anna) brings a different type of character to the story, particularly for anyone who’s seen the movie. Her take on Anna is more emotional and fiery, but no less entertaining than her big screen counterpart.
Both male roles are performed outstandingly well. Lucas Chartier-Dessert (Dan) and Alex Gravenstein (Larry) make it all look so easy with clearly defined characters who don’t even need to speak for you to understand who they are. That being said, any show that uses accents is a challenge and these two do an exceptional job convincing the audience they are authentically British.
Though we’re never excluded, blocking in a space like Mainline is always a riddle and this version of Closer seems to have been staged (correctly so) anticipating full audiences. This means that a lot of the scenes are played to audience sections that aren’t there and entire moments are lost if you’re not sitting in the exact right spot.
This is the type of show that belongs at Mainline. Edgy, dirty and raw – but also entertaining. At over two hours, Closer could easily have had me looking at my watch, but I didn’t. Not only because I forgot to wear a watch, but mostly because I was always so interested to see what would happen next.
There are only three more showings of Closer left (Thursday,Friday & Saturday at 8PM). This really is a great opportunity to go out and support live theatre in Montreal. Mainline Theatre is located at 3997 Boul. St-Laurent.
For more information visit: www.rawproductions.ca
April 23rd 2013
par Geneviève Germain
Le couple et l’amour qu’on y associe est une source inépuisable de questionnements. Pourquoi tombe-t-on amoureux? Comment bâtir une intimité de couple? La pièce Closer explore les thèmes de l’amour et des relations non seulement dans leur complexité, mais aussi dans leur capacité destructrice. Résolument contemporain, le texte de l’auteur Patrick Marber utilise un langage cru, direct et sexuellement explicite qui réussit à susciter une réelle remise en question de la dynamique qui s’installe lors de toute rencontre et lors de toute vie de couple.
D’abord présenté à Londres en 1997 puis sur Broadway en 1999, Closer a été adapté pour le grand écran en 2004. Encore aujourd’hui, cette pièce résonne d’actualité : une rencontre inopinée, un couple, un coup de foudre, un deuxième couple, beaucoup de trahison et de déceptions. S’étalant sur une période de quatre années, on suit le chassé-croisé amoureux de Dan, un journaliste de rubriques nécrologiques, d’Alice, stripteaseuse, avec celui de Larry, dermatologue, et d’Anna, photographe. À coup de vérités, mais aussi de non-dits, on découvre l’attrait du sentiment amoureux et l’ennui que le quotidien peut apporter.
Dans un espace intemporel et minimaliste, les personnages se rapprochent, s’entrechoquent et se confrontent. Le metteur en scène Alex Goldrich n’hésite pas à traduire les propos de la pièce en scènes explicites. Karine Kerr, dans le rôle d’Alice, incarne parfaitement le côté frondeur, téméraire et entier de son personnage, et ce, sans aucune pudeur. À ses côtés, Lucas Chartier-Dessert réussit à illustrer l’omniprésente ambivalence de Dan. Stéphanie Coco-Palermo dans le rôle d’Anna est vibrante de sensibilité et Alex Gravenstein dans la peau de Larry, dose bien le côté plus exubérant et déplacé de son personnage. Ensemble, on croit à leur chimie. Seul bémol à leur performance, un fond d’accent britannique qui se perd à plusieurs moments de la pièce.
Le propos de la pièce peut sembler lourd, il n’est pas aisé de traiter de trahison et de déceptions amoureuses sans tomber dans le dramatique, mais heureusement, les dialogues sont ponctués de pointes humoristiques et la singularité de chacun des personnages nous tient en haleine jusqu’à la toute dernière réplique. On demeure curieux de découvrir ce qui anime les quatre protagonistes de la pièce et surtout comment cela va se traduire dans leurs actions et dans leurs choix. Pas de fin heureuse à cette histoire, plutôt d’autres questions qui demeurent en suspens, et c’est bien là où se situe la plus grande réussite de cette pièce.
April 21st 2013
Let’s get Closer
Marber play steams up MainLine Theatre
by Sarah Deshaies
What is Closer? A claustrophobic tale of four people ensnared in a web of love, deceit and infidelity in modern London. We observe four people, each with a different understanding of love, truth, and kindness: a failed writer, a spritely stripper, an entrepreneurial doctor, a photographer.
Dan meets Alice after a glance in the street bridges their interest; he’s bound to her once she’s hit by a taxi in the following moments. Our other two heroes, Larry and Anna, come across each other’s paths when wiley Dan sets them up through a cyber prank. Their four lives will collide in often unpleasant ways.
Patrick Marber’s play is pure catnip for those looking to witness the vagaries and devastation of love, or to act them out. (Perhaps that’s why this is the third version I’ve seen in Montreal in recent years.)
The writing is biting and witty, and we see more of the awkward, difficult moments in relationships than we do the sublime, lovely periods. This is a directorial debut for Alex Goldrich, who also starred as Larry in a recent version at Espace Berri.
Raw Productions’ version of the play, now at MainLine Theatre, mirrors the tumultuousness of a relationship. While at times sexy and riotous, it can also feel old and staid.
When writer Dan (Lucas Chartier-Dessert) gets to know Alice (Karine Kerr) in a hospital waiting room, the play is fresh and flirty. When Anna (Stephanie Coco-Palermo) meets Dan as she snaps his photo, we see more magic. When Larry the doctor (Alex Gravenstein) reams out his wife Anna for her infidelity, passions are ablaze. But in other moments, the production falters: lines sound as if read by rote, a stage light flickers on and off, a British accent is dropped for a split second. The sound design is fine, with nice selections for music and background noise. However, the way the music bridges the scenes was loud and jagged.
Goldrich's performers mesh well, with Chartier-Dessert and Gravenstein excelling as the tortured male souls. Closer is a meditation on love and the horrible things we do for it; this version is at times polished, and sometimes messy. But the script remains as solid as it did when it was first staged in the ‘90s. Marber’s play is entertainment for the ears, and fans of his work and the 2004 film version will enjoy sinking their teeth into it.
And if I can digress for a moment... the chatroom sex scene was considered modern by the standards in the 90s, and it still does feel relevant. But I hope some enterprising writer is mining today’s digitally-enhanced, harsh dating scene for a Closer set in the 2010s.
Closer is at Mainline Theatre until April 27.
Running time: 130 minutes, including an intermission.
April 19th 2013
Closer @ MainLine Theatre
April 19, 2013 by bloodyunderrated
Gracing the MainLine stage until April 27th, RAW Productions’ Closer is a sexy, thrilling ride you don’t want to miss.
Directed by the brilliant Alex Goldrich, who starred as Macbeth in the Montreal Shakespeare Theatre Company production last summer, this complex love story is as engaging as it is messy. Dan, Alice, Larry and Anna are four strangers living in London. Their collective habit of falling in and out of love with each other and penchant for betrayal is reason enough to hate these characters. And yet, they are raw, real and impossibly endearing, forever falling prey to their own emotions and selfishly giving in to their primal urges. The clever, scintillating script in this dialogue-heavy show is enthralling and poetic. A stark, minimalist decor and a gorgeous soundtrack of slowed-down, classy-as-fuck jazz complete the experience in this sleek and sophisticated play.
The cast, comprised of Lucas Chartier-Dessert (Dan), Stephanie Coco-Palermo (Anna), Alex Gravenstein (Larry) and Karine Kerr (Alice), is incredibly impressive, delivering beautifully naturalistic performances. Alice’s naïveté is moving; Anna is delightfully manipulative; and Larry is the character you can’t help but root for, despite his frequent perversions. But Chartier, a confident and talented actor, steals the show. His posh London accent is spot-on; unfortunately, the same could not be said of his pseudo-British co-stars. When Coco-Palermo got upset and so invested in the scene that she dropped her accent, she was absolutely captivating, which sort of made me wish they had dropped the pretense altogether. Luckily, the ever-changing relationships between these four intensely lonely people are explored with such unforgettable depth and honesty, this small flaw is easily overlooked.
Closer runs every single night from April 17th to the 27th, except Monday, April 22nd. All shows are at 8pm at MainLine Theatre (3997 St-Laurent). Tickets are $23 or $18 for students and can be purchased in advance by calling 514-849-3378 or by clicking here.
April 19th 2013
The Closer – Not for kiddies – but so very good
Saw a fantastic piece of Theatre at Mainline last night – and best of all – it’s on until the 27th of April. Plenty of time to get tickets. And you definitely want to see this one.
I generally enjoy the productions that happen at Mainline. Put on by tiny, yet professional companies that have a creative itch they must scratch – the plays are interesting, well rehearsed, and well produced. “The Closer” is no exception. The story line – that of 4 people (2 men, 2 women) who meet, become lovers, find out information about each other that disappoints, and try again – is intensely disturbing, profoundly interestingly, well-presented and very well performed.
There’s a scene of an on-line ‘date’ that is extremely funny – particularly for the older generation (like me!). Karine Kerr – who plays the part of the stripper Alice – is strikingly beautiful, and while she never strips completely, she does strike the pose – and hold it extremely convincingly. I also found the 2 men very appealing, Alex Gravenstein is so attractively scruffy as Dr. Larry it’s hard not to want to reach out and ruffle his curly hair.
My complaints are very minor – I dearly wish that the ‘professorial’ photographer had used a more appropriate camera. The one she uses is a joke – and for anyone with knowledge of photography, very distracting. No professional would use a camera like that, finding one that fit the role better surely wasn’t that hard. And I was rather alarmed at the very distinct lack of audience. I’ve never ever seen Mainline so empty – granted it was only the 2nd night, but still. This is a very good play – why weren’t there more people there to enjoy it?
And I have one caution – the topic revolves around sex – and while you don’t ‘see’ any – there are lots of pretty descriptive sections. So don’t bring your pruddish cap – come open-minded and you will truly enjoy yourself.
Media Release
April 2nd 2013
MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Closer by Patrick Marber
Directed by Alex Goldrich
April 17th - April 27th
Montréal, April 2nd 2013 – RAW Productions, a new young independent theatre company, is proud to bring to the stage the intimate and unapologetic Closer by Patrick Marber at MainLine Theatre from April 17th until the 27th.
When you believe in love at first sight, you never stop looking. Four lives intertwine over the course of four and a half years in this densely plotted, stinging look at modern love and betrayal. When a love triangle becomes a square, the truth keeps getting further out of reach. A series of pass-the-lover scenes in which this quartet struggle to find intimacy but can’t seem to get closer.
The play is directed by Alex Goldrich, who was recently seen on stage in Hamlet and Oroonoko (Persephone Productions) and as the title role in Macbeth (Montreal Shakespeare Theatre Company). The production features a young, up-and-coming cast consisting of Lucas Chartier-Dessert (Hamlet, Persephone Productions), Stephanie Coco-Palermo (The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, Brave New Productions), Alex Gravenstein (The Goat, Player’s Theatre) and Karine Kerr (Macbeth, Montreal Shakespeare Theatre Company).
Closer will be presented at MainLine Theatre, a beloved local independent theatre which, despite recent financial trouble, has been able to keep their doors open due to an incredible outpouring of support from theatre lovers. The production is presented on a thrust stage, creating an intimate setting for this incredibly well-written and moving drama. With a minimalistic set and few costume changes, Closer relies on the four actors’ performances to propel the audience into their hearts as they fall in love and fall apart before our eyes.
Patrick Marber's Closer premiered in 1997 in London, and has received numerous awards, including the New York Drama Critics Award for Best Foreign Play, the Olivier Award for Best New Play, the London Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play and the Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy. It has since been performed all over the world and was adapted for the big screen in 2004.
Closer
April 17th – 27th
MainLine Theatre
$20 Regular / $15 Student
To see a detailed schedule for RAW Productions’ 2013 production of Closer please visit www.rawproductions.ca.
For any questions please contact 514-849-3378 or info@rawproductions.ca.
IndieGoGo Campaign
March 11th 2013
We have a fundraising campaign on IndieGoGo to help us raise funds for our upcoming production of Closer:
Our official poster
March 4th 2013
Here is the official poster for our production of Closer.
