Closer

Patrick Marber

CLOSER

A romantic drama in 2 parts

Directed by Toms Treinis

Set design and costumes - Marija Ulmane

Music consultant - Emīls Zilberts

Lighting designer - Niks Cipruss

Movement consultant - Linda Mīļā

Translation - Laura Romanovska

Cast: Aksels Aizkalns, Anna Nele Āboliņa, Ieva Estere Barkāne, Rihards Jakovels.

The photographer, the obituary writer, the nude dancer and the doctor - all crisscrossing one another, greedily trying to get closer, yet wounded by disappointment and with serious scrapes on their souls, they are thrown back into their own loneliness.

"The fates of four mutually estranged people meet in a true storm of passion, love and lust. This is an unvarnished story about power and love, about truth and lies, about desire and instincts. This play proves that words can stab like a knife, and that the truth is sometimes more painful than pretence and lies. Patrick Marber's play Closer contains direct and at times harsh language, where, seen through contemporary eyes, boundaries are crossed," says director Toms Treinis.

Since Patrick Marber wrote this urban rondeau of passions in 1997 - at once a romantic comedy and a brutal contemporary anatomy of love - the play Closer has never left theatre stages around the world. In 2001, it was staged for the first time in Latvia at Dailes Theatre by director Oļģerts Kroders.

The play gained its greatest popularity after Hollywood took hold of it, and in 2004 Mike Nichols's film of the same name was released. Closer became synonymous with the beautiful faces of Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, Jude Law and Clive Owen, paired with the haunting soundtrack by Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice, which was immediately released on a separate album as well.