Reviewed by Agathe Dijoud

Cardiff Uni’s drama society Act One played ‘Closer’ by Patrick Marber last week, and it was a really great experience! A dozen scenes take us on the decade-long love journey of a quartet. Anna (Miriam Hopkins), Alice (Michaela Minkin), Dan (Alec Cook) and Larry (Luke Merchant) experience love, marriage and heartbreak with each other, with nothing ever feeling fully right, and with their personal backgrounds always catching up.

I don’t know if the comedians study drama, but all four are really talented, and got the audience into the play easily, making us forget the stage set hardly changes in between scenes. The set was by the way pretty well done, with the bed in the middle of four walls filled with pictures of people. There were details reminding us of all four characters in each scene. A really inventive and funny moment in the play is the online conversation between Dan and Larry, projected on the wall behind them.

Special shout-out to whoever made the screen actually look like the late 1990’s; it got us even more into the context of the play! I would recommend everyone to check out Act One’s plays, because there are probably other talented comedians, directors and else in the society!