Closer - Lyric Hammersmith

I really enjoyed this today. I don't think it needed the background chorus/actors but other than this detail, I have no negative criticism of either the production, the play or the acting. I think the play is definitely still relevant- as an exploration of relationships and examples of toxic masculinity. I found myself nodding a few times in agreement, one of them being the exchange between the two women in the second act, when they talk about baggage people bring with them in new relationships. It was nice to see Jack Farthing in something so different from Poldark (sorry Jack, I have not seen you in anything else before today...) and special mention to Sam Troughton as it has already been noted. Very nice that the Lyric was much busier this afternoon- it was depressing to see so many empty seats at my last two visits.

Always loved the film, but today was my first time watching the play. I had a great time and really enjoyed revisiting the story I like so much on stage. It seems they changed very little of the text when they adapted this into film, and yet the endings are quite different. Seeing the play today I felt the original ending works better for me.

Saw the matinee, and loved it, to the extent that one can love seeing the absolute worst and most selfish impulses of men represented on stage lol!

Some spoilers follow. . .

I agree with the comment above that this is more effective than the recent Donmar version, principally because it strips the characters of artifice (with the exception of the one character who is all about artifice).

In the Donmar version, the characters pretended to be nice, while under the surface they were terrible. Here they don't bother pretending, and the result is a far more impactful and earthy exploration of what they are all up to and about.

Jack Farthing's writer, Dan, acts as close to Nietzsche's concept of an Ubermensch as a character can, simply taking what he wants from the other three characters, just because. It's a horrible but strangely compelling view of alpha male toxicity, and is true to the core of Marber's character. (I remember Oliver Chris layering a massive veneer of guile and charm over this character at the Donmar to disguise his basic savagery, which was convincing but left the audience comfortably numb).

This in turn allows Sam Troughton, who specialises in relatable everymen (eg falling in love in "Beginning" at the National, or losing the war of workplace survival in Clare Lizzimore's own incredible and equally savage "Bull" at the Young Vic) to show the cold emotional brutality an everyman, like his character, Larry, is capable of wreaking when his ego is under attack from a supposed Ubermensch. Because Troughton's Larry is so grounded in ordinary everyday recognisable mannerisms, the callous acting out of his toxic rage is absolutely and utterly compelling! By the end of the show, he is every bit the modern day Heathcliff (and I mean the bad Heathcliff from the second half of the novel lol).

Unlike the men, Marber's women are not so toxic. But they do want what they want, and Nina Toussaint-White's Anna's frank admission of her own selfishness, inflicting collateral damage, albeit unintentionally, comes across as regal, refreshingly honest and heartbreaking.

If Troughton's turn as Larry is unforgettable, so is Ella Hunt's as Alice, the one character who embraces artifice, as escape from savagery, with every fibre of her being.

Lizzimore makes the wonderful choice of utilising Hunt's singing skills (she could have been the lead singer of Portishead, or at a push, London Grammar) and this resort to the fantasy world of music frames the character, as well as providing some brief respite for the audience from Marber's cruelty. Hunt makes an astonishing professional stage debut, her sing song voice and grinning playfulness constantly trying to establish some fictional amelioration from the emotional brutality surrounding her.

By the time this ended, I was mightily impressed, with the only caveat that I was not impressed with these women's taste in men. That said, the clichéd phrase "treat 'em mean to keep 'em keen" would not exist if there were no women to fall for it!

I enjoyed this twenty fifth anniversary production very much, although it didn't leave me feeling uplifted lol.

4 and a half stars from me.