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 |  | Closer by the Warwick University Drama Society
at Warwick Arts Centre, 15 November 2002.
Review by site user Molly Rogers
Student drama societies are often suffered as worthy exercises - noble attempts at providing entertainment for the families and friends of society members.
With its production of Patrick Marber's Closer, however, the Warwick University Drama Society distinguished itself with confidence.
| 听 |  | Warwick University Student Union
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It roundly deserves a place at the National Student Drama Festival, for which it has been entered.
Marber's allegorical play about the hazards of love requires the sure hand of a director completely at home with the play's high-pitched emotionality and adult themes.
Nicole Regelous proved herself an able director, and her confidence came through, particularly in her decision to present the play in-the-round.
Closer is a highly structured play that operates on the principles of Newton's third law: For every action there is an equal reaction. The four characters of the play form couples that inevitably come apart only to form new partnerships.
The play begins with a chance meeting between Alice, a young femme fatale, and Dan, a writer who, for lack of talent, makes his living writing obituaries.
This pairing of danger with safety recurs throughout the play, though the characters do not remain constant, but assume the dangerous or safe role depending on the nature of their partner.
| 听 |  | Warwick Arts Centre building
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Broken up into short scenes, in which the characters struggle with their own desires and with the conflicting wants and needs of their partners, the play moves swiftly along.
But for all its urban edginess and personal turmoil, Closer's impact is more cerebral than emotional, the painstaking attention to balance and structure more important to the playwright than the play itself.
This means that the ending - so precisely set up in the first scene - is neither a surprise, nor as tragic as it could be. Even as allegory the denouement comes up short, for the three surviving characters take little responsibility for the death of the fourth.
Despite all that has taken place, no one seems to have learned much.
But perhaps Closer isn't meant to teach so much as simply show. This then elevates the characters themselves above any message or overarching theme they might be expected to deliver, and consequently places much responsibility on the actors. In this the Drama Society again met the challenge head on.
The performances by Philippa Sellers as Anna and James Anderson as Larry were particularly strong, so clearly did they present the strengths, weaknesses and contradictions of their characters.
Tom McHugh and Kate Phillips were no less capable in their roles, but Marber's insistence on balancing each yin with a bit of yang means that the roles of Alice and Dan come up rather soft when compared to their tougher counterparts.
Nevertheless, the production justly earned its applause, and equally should earn a place at the Student Drama Festival in spring.
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