Closer

"I see love as being a combination of lust and trust" is a comment I once heard on a documentary on the subject many years ago and certainly sprang to mind whilst viewing this new version of Patrick Marber's searing play which first premiered at London's National Theatre 27 years ago. Not having viewed the original nor the film version made some 7 years later, nor the original La Boite version 24 years ago I can't compare this interpretation, directed by La Boite CEO Courtney Stewart, but if the script was the same it certainly intended to 'shock' its audience with its abundant coarse, explicit (and occasional comical) exploration of the realities of modern relationships, primarily with the accent on the aspect of sex.

The theatre-in-the-round setting is also fitting with this 'merry-go-round' of intricacies involved in the intertwining of the four contrasting characters, combining enough material to harvest various Freudian, albeit Jungian, fans brimming with enthusiasm on the subject. Because the play involves various lapses in time, certain elements of confusion are prevalent in the plot though emphasis is placed on character, in particular that of Alice, in a most convincing and captivating portrayal by Sophia Emberson-Bain, as the seductive femme-fatale cast member one would suspect is the most untrustworthy due to her background and profession as a part-time stripper and yet who eventually appears to be the most truthful of  the other three with all their lies, deceit and, particularly with the men, obscenities.

Still, realities are laid bare here where the play is also asking questions, taunting its audience with the truth about love and whether there is some undefinable answer behind the morality of sex and relationships. The question of companionship is the key here because after all the flame does flicker after a while with most of us. At least there was some reference to this when Dan touches on the enjoyment he experiences simply spending time with his then partner even if he is simultaneously 'in love' with someone else. More confusion though, particularly when his opposite is gallivanting around the stage like a cat on 'a-hot- tin-roof'? Love, after all, is around us constantly and in different ways, not necessarily sexual, which is possibly one of the reasons why the questions the play was asking and laid bare was successful at the time. Similar opuses during that era include Sondheim's 'Company', also a riveting look at the real truth behind the human condition.

All are moving performances in this production with Anna McGahan as Anna, a character reflecting and significantly reminiscent of Gerry Rafferty's famous song 'Stuck in the Middle with You', trying to find her place amongst the confused and confusing; Kevin Spink playing the somewhat wimpy character of Dan with alacrity and good timing and Colin W Smith as the rather base, unsophisticated, stubborn dermatologist who somehow manages to attract the ladies despite oozing any sense of romantic leanings.

'What's Love Got to do with It', Tina Turner's famous rhetoric in a song that was very successful at the time is relevant here but it was the very end of this production with Alice poignantly poised between two pinpoints of pink/purple light during the fade that perhaps succinctly touches on the director's interpretation and its place in the development of the complexity of modern relationships.

This is indeed an interesting probe into one's subconscious, crossing the lines between lust and love; and with infinitely more substance than a menage-a-trois, or whatever!

Brian Adamson