Upstairs Theatre Company returns this spring with the Arizona premiere of playwright
Patrick Marber's black comedy, Closer. The play
will run at the new Metro Theatre (home to the Ensemble Theatre)
February 16th - March 3rd, 2001.
In this densely plotted, stinging look at modern love and betrayal,
four lives intertwine over the course of four and a half years:
Dan (an obituary writer) meets Alice (a stripper) after an accident
in the street. Eighteen months later, they are a couple and Dan
has written a novel inspired by Alice. While posing for his book
jacket cover, Dan meets Anna (a photographer). He pursues her,
but she rejects his advances despite their mutual attraction.
Larry (a dermatologist) "meets" Dan in an Internet chat
room. Dan, obsessing over Anna, pretends to be her and has cybersex
with Larry; they arrange to meet the next day at an aquarium.
Larry arrives and so too, coincidentally, does the real Anna.
This sets up a series of pass-the-lover scenes in which this quartet
struggles to find intimacy but can't seem to get closer.
Brisk, urbane, witty, and obscene, CLOSER is a thrilling,
intimate, caustically funny love story for today, revealing how
little we sometimes know in the information age -- about each
other and about ourselves.
Anthony Runfola will direct Robyn Murray as Alice, Benjamin Monrad as Dan, Ron May as Larry, and Nina Miller as Anna.
Scenery Design by Gro Johre; Costume Design by Jannine Doto; Lighting
Design by Andrew Campbell. .
Closer opens Friday, February 16th with performances continuing
Thursdays - Saturdays at 8:00 PM through March 2nd. There will
be one Sunday matinee on February 25th, 2001 at 2:00 PM.
All performances are at the Metro Theatre, 8408 East Indian School
Rd. (at Granite Reef Rd.) in Scottsdale.
Ticket prices are $14.00, $10.00 for students and seniors. Ticket
reservations can be made by calling the Metro Theatre Box Office
at (480) 874-0806