Too close for comfort
Closer offers shocking view of contemporary relationships
PREVIEW
CLOSER
Theatre Junction
Runs until February 9
Dr. Betty Mitchell Theatre (JA)
A well-known figure on the Calgary theatre scene, Jarvis Hall has been in many different kinds of plays but never anything quite like Theatre Junction’s upcoming production of Closer.
This controversial play by Patrick Marber engaged and shocked audiences in London and New York with its gritty, realistic vision of contemporary relationships.
"It’s character driven," says Hall. "There are four characters, two men and two women. Over the course of the evening the two men are linked romantically with each of the two women at different times. You see them meet. You see them break up."
While this could be the basis of a TV sitcom or a light and frothy Noel Coward play, playwright Marber creates a much more emotionally charged sequence of events.
"It deals with how real people deal with each other in those awful situations of ‘I’ve cheated on you, I’m in love with someone else, this is over,’" says Hall. "So all night, every scene has a real buzz about it. We’re never at the medium points. No one is ever cooking lunch and having small talk. Every scene is at the pinnacle of somebody’s passion or heartbreak."
Jarvis Hall plays Dan, a failed novelist who has ended up in the Siberia of journalism, writing obituaries. He meets Alice, a stripper, on the street.
"We meet at a streetlight. We catch eyes, then she steps into the road and gets hit by a car." Dan goes on to write a novel inspired by their relationship. Much later, when Dan goes to have his picture taken for the book jacket, he meets Anna the photographer and a new relationship springs up.
One more pivotal scene in Closer takes place on the Internet. Bored one night, Dan logs on to a chat room where he masquerades as a woman. He meets Larry and, as a joke, sets up a meeting with him. When Larry shows up, looking for his fantasy woman, he meets Anna instead.
"Inadvertantly, the woman Dan wants to be with, he ends up setting up with a complete stranger," says Hall.
Considering the events of the play, rehearsals have been emotionally demanding.
"(Marber's) dealing with love and loss – he doesn’t gloss over anything. It’s very sexual. It pulls no punches. He uses the kind of language we use in these emotional situations. We like to pretend that we don’t behave in that fashion, that we don’t say really hurtful things at times like that. But Marber has written this the way people really behave. If you’re in the audience, you spend the night going, ‘God, that’s awful.’ But I think anybody recognizes it immediately. When I first read the play, I thought, yes, I’ve been in half of these situations. I know exactly how it works."
But he isn't sure whether the audience will be shocked or amused. From one night to the next, Hall says this will generate excitement onstage.
"It’s so well written. It’s seamless. We’re just watching the action and the story unfold and we don’t notice that we’re having a discussion about the nature of modern life. The audience may be offended, excited or whatever. It just sneaks up on you." |
