CLOSER | Presented by AVID Theatre

CLOSER

PATRICK MARBER'S CLOSER BRINGS LOVE, LUST AND BRUTAL HONESTY TO MELBOURNE'S EAST

What happens when the person you love becomes the person who knows exactly how to hurt you?

This October, AVID Theatre and The 1812 Theatre present Patrick Marber's CLOSER, the provocative, darkly funny and fiercely intelligent relationship drama that has lost none of its power almost three decades after its acclaimed London premiere.

Playing for a strictly limited season from 28 October to 7 November 2026 at the intimate bakery@1812 in Upper Ferntree Gully, CLOSER places its audience just metres from four people caught in an increasingly destructive cycle of attraction, love, sex, jealousy, betrayal and revenge.
"Love is a lie we tell ourselves."

Set in London at the end of the twentieth century, CLOSER follows four strangers whose lives collide almost by accident.

Dan meets Alice. Anna photographs Dan. Larry meets Anna. Attraction becomes intimacy, intimacy becomes possession, and the desire to know the truth gradually becomes more dangerous than the lies themselves.
Over the course of their intertwined relationships, Dan, Alice, Anna and Larry fall in love, fall out of love, betray one another and repeatedly demand complete honesty - even when the answers have the power to destroy them.

Seductive, savage and frequently very funny, Marber's play strips away the polite language of romance to examine the jealousy, obsession, vulnerability and cruelty that can exist beneath intimacy.

First staged at London's National Theatre in 1997, CLOSER won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play and went on to international acclaim, including a Broadway production and the celebrated 2004 film adaptation directed by Mike Nichols.

For director Michael Fenemore, however, the power of CLOSER lies in experiencing Marber's story live rather than at the safe distance of a cinema screen.

The production features Abby Pettigrew as Alice, Tim Cox as Dan, Kate Lawson as Anna and Michael Fenemore as Larry.

At its heart, CLOSER asks an unsettlingly simple question:
How close can you get to another person before you destroy each other?
Raw. Sexy. Darkly funny. Uncomfortably human.
CLOSER is a play about people desperate for intimacy - and the terrible things they do when they finally get it.

Audience advisory:
Contains very strong language, graphic sexual references and mature themes. Recommended for audiences aged 18+.

Season: 28 October - 7 November 2026
Venue: bakery@1812, The 1812 Theatre
Address: 3 Rose Street, Upper Ferntree Gully, Victoria 3156