Stageside: 'Closer' shows how people in relationships create their own love and heartache

“Closer”
Stella Adler Theater
$15 or $5 with student ID

Love, lies and sex: three things that seem to make or break a relationship. Yet, behind it all, it’s really people who create their own happiness as well as their own heartache with the choices they make.

“Closer” examines this idea in depth with the intertwining relationships of four characters, Anna, Dan, Alice and Larry. The play begins with an obituary writer Dan (played by Matthew Oliva) flirting with Alice (played by Fabianne Therese) in a hospital waiting room as they wait for a doctor to attend to Alice’s leg wound. Fast-forward two years later, and Dan tries to begin a relationship with photographer Anna (played by Stefanie Anne Chapman) despite still being involved with Alice.

Much of this play is driven by its story and by the actors themselves. To put the spotlight on the performers, the play’s props are sparse. Few furniture decorate the stage, and only the bare essentials such as chairs, a camera and champagne glasses, are given to the actors to use. Without any real material distractions, the audience attention is forced to focus solely on the actors and the emotions they play out on stage.

One of the standouts of the small cast is Chapman, who delivers a subtle engaging performance as Anna. Despite playing a character that could teeter on dislikable because of her infidelity, Chapman makes the audience root for her instead. Chapman highlights her character vulnerability as well as shows her character’s deep need to find love.

One notable performance by Chapman is the scene in which Anna is fluctuating between past and present. First, Anna fights with Dan over sleeping with her ex-husband Larry (played by Whit Giddens). Then the scene changes into the past where Anna has lunch with Larry. Eventually the past and present time merges together into one scene where Anna sits in the middle while Dan sits on her right and Larry sits on her left. Chapman easily transitions her emotions from being heartbroken with Dan one minute, then turning her head towards Larry; she is Anna of the past, resentful of her husband for not letting her go.

Chapman moves from emotion to emotion so succinctly that audiences aren’t confused as to how she is feeling. You can tell when Anna is sad, frustrated or hating herself without having to hear her lines. You want to blame her for the choices she makes, but Chapman plays Anna so sympathetically that you don’t want to blame her at all. Instead, you end up hating the men as Dan plays with Anna’s heart and Larry exploits her for sex.

Coming in second behind Chapman’s performance is Therese’s portrayal of Alice. Therese first starts off weak. Rather than fully exuding Alice’s playfulness and flirtatiousness, Therese comes off jittery at best. It isn’t until the play reaches the middle that Therese finds her stride and begins to give a powerful performance as the broken Alice. Therese is memorable particularly at the end when Dan confronts Alice about sleeping with Larry. Therese is intense as she yells at Dan, giving it her all with tears.

Unfortunately, where the ladies of the play are strong, the men fall a little short. Giddens plays Larry’s cowardice and sexual perverseness strongly. Yet, there were some moments where Giddens performance is slightly off. The scene in which he engages in Internet sex is uncomfortable, and while you know he’s supposed to be masturbating behind the desk, Giddens is awkward and makes the scene difficult to watch.

He also fails to bring a strong performance equal to Chapman in their fighting scene when Anna reveals her infidelity to Larry. Giddens shows his anger, but it doesn’t seem enough compared to Chapman’s emotive acting as she brings to the surface Anna’s inner turmoil, guilt, frustration and resentment toward Larry. Instead, what should seem to be more behind Larry’s emotions, such as his dependence, hate and love toward Anna, Giddens only highlights his character’s pathetic nature and anger.

Meanwhile, Oliva delivers a similar performance as Giddens. Oliva plays Dan’s cockiness well, but he overdoes it sometimes. Rather than being smooth, Dan comes off superficial and vain. And while Dan’s character isn’t suppose to be a picture of an ideal man, the audience should like him the way Anna likes him despite knowing she shouldn’t. Instead, Dan just comes off dislikable without any redeeming features at all.

Oliva also comes off weak during the sad and intense moments, particularly during Dan’s fight with Alice. Again, Oliva is good when he’s playful, but when he begins fighting with Therese’s character, he doesn’t measure up to Therese’s raw emotions. He only delivers Dan’s pettiness when it seems there should be more to it to Dan than just that. As all the characters have multiple layers to them, Dan seems like he should have layers too. But unfortunately, Oliva doesn’t show that to the audience.

In the end, the story is powerful in showing the complicated relationships that arises between men and women. Love, lies and sex are thrown around in the play, and while they are strong forces, humans are the ones to ultimately drive these forces rather than be driven by them. Just as Alice puts it, you choose to fall in love, and you can choose to fall out of love.