There’s a kids swimming-pool game called “Sharks and Minnows” in which the person who is the shark attempts to tag the other kids — the minnows. In some versions of the game, when a minnow is tagged, he or she becomes a shark and joins in chasing the remaining minnows.
Watching Uncorked Productions’ staging of “Closer,” directed by Brenda Cook, is an awful lot like seeing a late-stage version of the game, when it might as well be called “Sharks and Sharks.” Watching these characters devour one another emotionally carries all the morbid fascination of a feeding frenzy: It’s horrifying and riveting all at once, and you can identify with both predator and prey.
Patrick Marber’s script — which he reworked into a screenplay for the 2004 film of the same name — is really a series of vignettes about the lives of four Londoners over the course of a couple of years as they variously break up and reconnect, fall in and out of love and betray one another. Repeatedly. Ad infinitum. And yet, they never really make contact — the unknowableness of another’s mind is always front and center.
But the beauty of the script is that it holds up a mirror to the audience: If you’re a cynic who’s recently been burned in love, you will see cynical people doing what cynical people do. If you’re satisfied in your love life, you might shake your head and say to yourself, “What sad, empty people.”
If you’ re in a relationship that has lately grown colder and more distant . . . you might want to skip this show.
Among the many questions the troubling story forces one to face: Is it always best to tell the truth to those we love? And, even more disturbing, is there even such a thing as love? Because the storybook kind is mostly absent here. For obituary writer Dan, played with gleaming, cruel edges as well as softer, unexpected depths by Todd Webster, what he calls “love” looks an awful lot like a raw need to possess. Another query: Is there a difference?
A chance meeting with Alice, portrayed by L. Corwin Christie with perfect enigmatic flirtatiousness, sends Dan’s life careering down a different path, and he writes a book about this mysterious stranger who is so alluring that he leaves his wife for her. Christie’s role is crucial; not only does the weight of the entire play balance on her believability, there’s a certain innocent quality to the character. Yet she is also calculating and unabashedly seductive. In less skilled hands Alice could easily become a two-dimensional vamp.
And the strength of the show lies in the experience of the actors. Marber’s words are a lot like his characters: They are pretty and bright, and they say lots of clever things, but ultimately they leave you cold. These people don’t seem to fall in love so much as they conduct transactions.
But with actors like Webster and Christie, as well as Ed Cord as Larry and Trina Magness as Anna, we can care about the characters despite their generally wrong-headed pursuit of love and revenge. Magness’ Anna comes closest to actually possessing something resembling a conscience, and she wears the pain of Anna’s decisions in her bones, as well as on her face. (Magness, who is pregnant, has only one remaining performance, Monday night. Othersie, starting tonight, Anna will be played by Rita Broderick).
And Cord’s Larry is perpetually surprising. Initially he is the most minnowlike creature among this cruel menagerie, but it’s not revealing too much to say that, like everyone else in the quartet, he too gets tagged by a shark. His raw rage and pain at being betrayed is an honest portrayal of the gaping, bloody wounds we all receive in love.
Simply watching the subtleties of the shifting power dynamics unfold among the four characters is worth the price of admission. And with such talent gathered together on one stage, Uncorked has come flying out of the gates in full stride.
“Closer” ***1/2 (out of four stars)
Love and betrayal. Presented by Uncorked Productions at The Bindery/Space, 720 22nd St. Through Feb. 23. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays. 2 hours, 13 minutes. $12-$15. 877-862-6752 or .
3 more theater
Opening Saturday. Moving into the Galleria Theatre for the Denver Center Attractions’ latest homegrown cabaret musical is “The Last Five Years,” running through June 29. In this unusually staged musical, we see a love affair play out from one character’s point of view from beginning to end – while the other character’s perspective is told from end to beginning.$34-$40. 303-893-4100 or
Ongoing. Breckenridge’s Backstage Theatre stages “The Housekeeper,” James Prideaux’s odd-duck romantic comedy about a self-styled literary artist who, after losing his dominating mother and inheriting her large Victorian house, advertises for a housekeeper. He makes the mistake of hiring the worst housekeeper in history. (Mature content.). Through March 8 at 121 S. Ridge St. $10-$18. 970-453-0199 or
Monday. Now’s the time to break out your old journals or open up that shoebox of love letters and prepare for your 5-minute presentation for “Teacher’s Pet,” Buntport Theater’s monthly open-mic night . . . with homework. This month’s theme is “Heartbreak Hotel.” So bring your own story of unrequited adoration, clandestine passion or forbidden love. Signup 8 p.m., performance 9 p.m. at 717 Lipan St. $4-6, 720-946-1388 or
Weekly podcast
Running Lines with … Onahoua Rodriguez This week, Denver Post theater critic John Moore talks with one of the stars of the Denver Center’s “Lydia” and the FX Network’s “The Shield.” Joining in are company members Geoff Kent and Leslie O’Carroll. You”ll be taken to a miniplayer. Once there, click its triangular “play” button, and the podcast will begin, with no downloading necessary.
KritiKaraoke: Hear an audio version of a recent review
This week: George and Martha, those bickering lovebirds from “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” read from John Moore’s review of Theatre13’s “And Baby Makes Seven.” . The link takes you to a miniplayer. There, click the triangular “play” button, and the feature will begin playing without your having to download.
