One Question Theatre launches stage production of Patrick Marber’s Closer

Benny Marama (left) and Liam Hinton.

After their acclaimed production of Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit and their adaptation of Tracey Slaughter’s novella The Longest Drink in Town (which recently received seed funding from the New Zealand Writers Guild for a potential screen adaptation), One Question Theatre takes yet another daring theatrical step forward with their production of the acclaimed Closer by Patrick Marber.

Set in London in the early 2000s, failed novelist Dan, photographer Anna, sex worker Alice, and dermatologist Larry become intimately bound in one another’s flesh, playing a brutal game of love, lust and deceit. “I first saw Closer when I was 16 and was awe-struck”, says co-founder of One Question and co-director Liam Hinton.

“I fell in love with its intensity and its intimacy. It’s a stunning and visceral portrait of desire, and the regret that often accompanies the realisation of desire.”

The play is most well-known for its 2004 film adaptation directed by Mike Nichols and starring Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Natalie Portman, and Jude Law. Says Hinton, “Nichols’ film is an excellent adaptation, but in moving the play to a medium with different constraints I feel some element of depth is lost or changed. Reading the play script, I became fascinated with the previously unseen small angles of these characters and the shadows they cast.”

In this production, local performers Ajsha Treblico, Hannah-Rose Cook and Benny Marama take on the roles of Anna, Alice, and Larry respectively.

Hannah-Rose Cook (left) and Ajsha Treblico.

And, Hinton and fellow co-founder of One Question Theatre Jack Knowles aren’t only codirecting - they also share the role of novelist and obituarist Dan - performing on alternating nights.

Of the role share, Hinton says, “Sharing the role with Jack has been a rewarding experience. Dan’s psychology remains consistent between us but expressed in unique ways given how different we are physically. My hope is the other actors are allowed to remain alive and alert and are given different energies to respond to.”

Says Hinton, “Jack and I are thrilled with the talent of this cast and crew, and we cannot wait to see them hit the stage.”

One Question’s season of Patrick Marber’s Closer is a community theatre production

The Details

What: Closer by Patrick Marber, by special arrangement with Samuel French Lts, and The Play Bureau.

Where: The Meteor, Hamilton

When: July 19-22, 7pm

R16 – Contains coarse language and sexual references.

Tickets: GA $25 / Conc. $20, seehttps://themeteor.co.nz/event/closer/