Patrick Marber: Plays: Dealer's Choice; Closer; Howard Katz; Don Juan in Soho; The Red Lion

Description

Dealer's Choice 'I feel it's my duty to proclaim it from the rooftops: this is it, this is the play that will remind you, at the end of a year that has contained too few stand-out new-writing hits and far too many musicals, why we go to the theatre - and just how good it can get.' Telegraph Closer 'Patrick Marber's searing follow-up to Dealer's Choice establishes him as the leading playwright of his generation.' Independent on Sunday 'One of the best plays of sexual politics in the language: it is right up there with Williams's Streetcar, Mamet's Oleanna, Albee's Virginia Woolf, Pinter's Old Times and Hare's Skylight.' Sunday Times Howard Katz 'After Dealer's Choice (1995), his gripping study of self-destructive gamblers, and Closer (1997), a thrilling account of love, sex and betrayal, this third instalment of his trilogy set in contemporary London tackles the biggest themes of all - life, death, God and the human soul. It's great to see a contemporary dramatist wrestling with such material.' Telegraph Don Juan in Soho 'One of the foremost dramatic chroniclers of modern British life. Line by line, this is the best written of all Marber's plays. You want to hang around its phrases (how often does that happen in the theatre?): hardly a minute passes without a satirical swipe, a gutsy joke.' Observer Red Lion 'Marber, in this riveting new piece, uses the world of non-league, semi-pro football to explore issues of trust and loyalty and the larger division between individual ambition and the collective ethic. If big issues emerge naturally from the action, it is because Marber is writing about a world he knows intimately. Everything feels right.' Guardian

Patrick Marber was born in 1964. He began his career as a stand-up comedian and writer in 1986. He co-wrote and appeared in a number of radio and television programmes including The Day Today and Knowing Me, Knowing You. In 1995 his first play, Dealer's Choice, premiered at the National Theatre in a production he also directed. Since then he has written plays and screenplays including After Miss Julie, Closer, Howard Katz, Don Juan in Soho, Notes on a Scandal and Love You More. He lives in London with his wife and their three children.