Kayla Walsh
Staff Writer
Closer is an award-winning 1997 play written by Patrick Marber. The Hollywood adaptation, starring Julia Roberts, Natalie Portman, Clive Owen and Jude Law, was released in 2004 to huge international success. It involves only four characters: Alice the loveable stripper, Anna the intellectual photographer, Daniel the serial romantic and Larry the coarse but honest dermatologist. As the plot progresses, the relationships between these characters get more and more complicated, and their lives become laced with treachery and deceit. The play is presented in a somewhat disjointed manner, as a series of cuts from one significant moment to the next, which adds to the intensity and forces you to fill in the blanks yourself. Though leaving you with a rather bleak picture of human nature, it provides a stunning insight into modern relationships, and never fails to capture the attention of the audience.
When I saw that The University Times was looking for someone to report on the various stages of putting on a play with DU Players, I jumped at the opportunity to document a Trinity student’s interpretation of Closer, which ran in Players theatre from Monday to Saturday last week. Having done a little bit of amateur acting myself, I had an idea of the processes involved in getting a show up and running. However, this was an exciting chance to chronicle everything from an outsider’s point of view, alongside input from the actors and crew. And so, pen and notebook in hand, I made my way to the rehearsal room of Players to watch the auditions for the show and chat to the director, SF History and Classical Civilisation student Hugo Lau.
For the director, a lot of the work put into the play is done before anything has even been accepted by the Players committee. A script must be drawn up, there must be provisions for lighting, sound, fundraisers, advertising, it truly is an extensive set of requirements. The interview itself is quite informal, however. The director is called into the ‘Liz’ room in House 6 and, basically, they are required to give a quick overview of how they envisage the play. Each of the committee members also has the opportunity to ask some more intricate questions but, in general, it’s a relatively light-hearted affair, and the committee are extremely friendly and warm. Once the interview is finished, the director is notified within a day or two whether their application was accepted or not.
The auditions for Closer were held in the last week of Michaelmas term, in order to give Hugo enough time to cast the play and for the actors to learn their lines. When I arrived at the rehearsal room in Players, where I was told I could find the director, I was greeted by a surprisingly large crowd of young hopefuls, clamouring to demonstrate their talents. After awkwardly hanging around outside for a few minutes, I was spotted by Hugo and ushered into the room, where I was invited to take a seat and observe people trying out for various parts. The auditions were based on a “cold reading”, which means that the actors were presented with a section of the script which they had never seen before, given a few minutes to read over and practise it, and then brought in to perform it in front of the director. “I tried to pick scenes in which the male and female roles were equally important, and which really epitomized the characters,” Hugo explained. “Then, if someone is really good in one role, I’ll ask them to come back and play a different one, to see how diverse an actor they are.” It was very interesting to note how the characters were played in a subtly different way every time. I was blown away by the ability and confidence of some of those auditioning, while empathising with the slight nerves of others. I, for one, have burst into pathetic tears at the prospect of acting in public, on more than one occasion…
When I had had my fill of auditions, I stepped outside to talk to a handful of people who had just left the rehearsal room. First up was Fiona Masterson, a Junior Freshman Primary Education student who had already taken part in a Players show, the devised piece “Outside the Box” in week 5 of Michaelmas term, and enjoyed it so much she came back for more. Curious as to how much she knew about the play, I asked her whether or not she had done any research. “I think it’s the actor’s responsibility to look up a show before auditioning for a part in it, just to get a sense of what the characters are like,” she replied. Senior Freshman World Religions and Theology student Sarah Agha was quick to agree, though only if she was particularly interested in the show concerned. Sarah went on to commend the style of the audition, praising Hugo’s level of involvement in the performance: “He was properly acting with me, rather than just reading from a page. Sometimes the director can’t even see you when you’re auditioning, but he was looking deep into my eyes.” (I think he just fancies you, Sarah…)
My work done, I headed home for the evening, leaving Hugo to toil over his pile of audition forms, and eventually make the all-important decision of who to cast.
