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| Closer by Patrick Marber |
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By Special Arrangement with Dominie Pty Ltd.
Alice is a stripper, Dan writes obituaries,
Riverina Playhouse
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| Closer by Patrick Marber |
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|
|
|
By Special Arrangement with Dominie Pty Ltd.
Alice is a stripper, Dan writes obituaries,
Riverina Playhouse
|
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
I saw Closer with a friend of mine, and was blown away. I still can't forget the amazing break-up scenes that the actors carried off to perfection, especially the final...it was so moving, emotional and raw - it made me cry.I've never seen that much truth and vulnerability on the playhouse stage.
Could anyone please let me know- is Nicola Maree appearing in any more Gearstick productions?
congratulations, and thankyou for my 'Closer' experience.
Hannah Leis
First the play is worth doing. Closer is a hard, no frills look at modern relationships, yes they can be tender but all too often the 'I" is more important than the 'Us" and that's the way it turns out. Nicola Maree Barber is particularly fine as the vulnerable used up Alice. She carries off a pole dancing scene... all brittle sex on the outside all vulnerability on the in-side... to absolute perfection. Craig Higgs character Larry, seems to equate financial and professional success with sexual gratification before realising too late that it's the emotional , not the physical that counts and Ashleigh Haynes Holyoake charts a similar course. In her hands the character Anna proves that the problems start when relationship turns to ownership.
I could have wished for Dan, James walker to make more of his opening scene with Alice. I strained to hear him while mentally saying 'Love you' to the bright brittle Alice.
This is overall a fine prooduction with crisp, spot on direction from Michelle Higgs and an imaginative, if slightly limited setting. Marbler sets his directors a difficult task, writing in a series of quick fire, short scenes. I've seen prooductions of his work featuring scene changes backed by complex mult media techniques and the white cube set employed by Gearstick may have matched the company's resources but only partially met Marber's demands. I know the acepted form is to play the Playhouse as if it were a procenium stage but it is a thrust and the line of banner photographs stage left interfered with sight line on that side of the house. More than a couple of patrons swapped sides after interval on the night I attended.
One question, why so few performances? This is a production that would have done wonders for the company's reputation and deserved to have been seen by many more people. In a theatrical scene that is increasingly focused on the bland and non-threatening Wagga deserves more like Closer.
Alex Nicol