Watching David Leveaux’ stylish revival at the Donmar Warehouse, Closer seems not so much a play about people who don’t have children yet as a play about grown up children. Games, set-ups, lies, betrayals, revenge, secrets – the machinations of the four characters (who are the strangers who become lovers/lovers who become strangers) resemble schoolyard activities. Marber’s dialogue is sharp, ugly and vicious; it is often very funny too.
Some of the performances are deliberately bigger, determinedly more overtly comic, less confrontational than they were at the Donmar. This lessens the dramatic sense of the play in unsatisfactory ways, while ostensibly appealing, presumably, to the expected middle class audiences in the West End. Some of the acting remains first-rate and the inherent power of the writing, while diminished, is far from lost. Lewis Reeves, Richard Cant and Matt Bardock are even better than they were at the Donmar
It’s poetic and achingly sad in some moments, stupidly silly in others. But it has a resonant and vibrant pulse which throbs louder and truer now than it did when the play first premiered.
There used to be a TV soap called Sons and Daughters and this production of Fathers and Sons felt more like some historical episodes of that series than a thoughtful adaptation of Turgenev.
With a striking wood-plank set by Rob Howell and brooding music by Alex Baranowski, this is a sharp and compelling production about families and the need for love.
The production of City Of Angels being staged by The Donmar Warehouse has posted SOLD OUT notices for the entire run on the day the show went on sale to the public.
As Act One trundles along, there is absolutely no sense that anyone on stage has any idea what they are doing or why.
This is difficult theatre to watch – but it is engaging and ultimately life affirming. And quite splendid.
