Patrick Marber’s Closer follows four people through various dating configurations, affairs and dramatic breakups, conveyed through a series of short scenes several months apart. The star-studded 2004 film adaptation was nominated for two Oscars; now Alumnae Theatre have brought it back to its stage roots.
Alumnae’s production is slick and entertaining, but it suffers slightly from miscasting. Steven Burley as Larry is too physically slight to be as imposing as many of his scenes require, and often when Larry’s true bullying nastiness should be most apparent, we see him only as a victim. His softness of manner and of accent also mask the class tension we are meant to perceive between him and Anna, and oblique references to this are never fully explored.
