Closer

I went to see Closer, which was put on by the Spartan Theatre Company. The play is contemporary, bleak in outlook, but does keep you guessing.

As one reviewer says:

"The plot of “Closer” is quite straightforward, involving four characters – Dan, a witty, albeit failed novelist; Larry, a kind-hearted doctor; Anna, a talented photographer; and Alice, a troubled ex-stripper – whose romantic lives do not so much intersect as collide violently, with all the seedy undercurrents bubbling to the surface in one way or another."

The pacing as tense. As the lady sitting next to me said at intermission: "I think I've been holding my breath the whole time." My sense is that the production is stronger than the play itself. I haven't actually read the play, and I have not seen the movie version either.

All 4 actors were strong, but if I had to pick a favorite, it was Brianne Duncan Fiore, as Anna, the character closest to sane in the show. One reviewer mentioned her "honest intensity" which strikes me as the quality that I admired about her performance. "Honesty in acting" is one of those paradoxical concepts, of course. But whatever it may be, she had it going on.

It's a form of art
where you step into a part
and then tug the viewer's heart.