Closer

A photographer, an obituary writer, a stripper and a doctor—crossing paths and greedily trying to get closer to one another—are wounded by disappointment and sent back to their loneliness, their souls badly bruised. “The fates of four strangers meet in a true storm of passion, love and desire. This is an unvarnished story about power and love, truth and lies, desire and instincts. The play shows that words can stab like a knife, and that the truth is sometimes more painful than pretence and lies. Patrick Marber’s play Closer uses direct and at times harsh language, crossing boundaries when viewed through contemporary eyes,” says director Toms Treinis. Since Patrick Marber wrote this urban rondo of passion in 1997—a romantic comedy and, at the same time, a brutal anatomy of modern love—the play Closer has remained on theatre stages around the world. In 2001, Oļģerts Kroders directed its first production in Latvia, at Dailes Theatre. The play became most popular after Hollywood took it up and Mike Nichols’s film of the same name was released in 2004. Closer became synonymous with the beautiful faces of Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, Jude Law and Clive Owen, accompanied by the poignant soundtrack by Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice, which was also promptly released as a separate album. Photo: Matīss Markovskis