An exceptionally well crafted play about six poker players, each with their own demons, "Dealer's Choice" is a profound study of not just compulsion but how we mix emotion, desire and hope into decisions that on the surface should be purely rational. Although "Dealer's Choice" is a dark play, Marber skillfully mixes comedy into the drama without diminishing it.

Given its accolades - 1995 Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy and the Writer's Guild Award for Best West End Play, along with rave reviews in the US - I wonder why I had to use a bookseller in England to get my copy.

Closer seems to be a favorite of producers and actors, and reading it in this edition certainly shows that its dramatic possibilities are strong: characters who are obessesd with each other but don't like each other; characters who have what some would call low self-esteem (self-loathing is more like it) but can still get a date and convince somebody to sign up for domestic partnership; and juicy, X-rated language that a good actor can hurl across a stage with withering contempt for his/her adversary. Performances of "Closer" may work brilliantly, but on the page the seams show. Blurbs compare Marber to Pinter: he should be so lucky. I challenge anybody to read or see "Old Times," "Homecoming" and "No Man's Land" and make that statement again with a straight face. I also enjoyed seeing Marber lift a line from the truly inspired novelist Elizabeth Taylor ("It's the most fun you can have with your clothes on.") only to ruin it in his misanthrophic poseur's rendition of "Lying is the most fun a woman can have with her clothes on." Considering that nobody has much fun with or without their clothes on among the play's nasty foursome, maybe they should all stick to lying.

Fall 2000 I saw a production of CLOSER at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and really enjoyed it. What I got from Marber's play is that modern relationships are doomed to failure. Men and women are always trying to find the better, more exciting partner. Or we men follow our you-know-what-around while women flit from man to man in search of companionship that excites them. This is hardly new territory, but Marber makes it entertaining...yet I didn't feel a whole lot of sympathy for any of the characters.

The play is much better when you HEAR the lines spoken from good actors. On the page the dialogue flows, but somehow it seems
too easy...too calculated and too clever for it's own good.
Also, I wasn't aware of the time shifts: live on stage I was under the impression this all takes place in a matter of days or weeks not years! (why this is not made known to the audience is somewhat puzzling to me....)

I look forward to seeing more of Marber's work performed live.

This is a good read, and no doubt even better in performance. I agree with the critic that said Marber is no Pinter, but this is still an enjoyable piece, and very modern in content. Recommended.