Closer. By Patrick Marber. Directed by Ed Thomason for Neptune's Studio Series at the du Maurier studio theatre to Nov. 4.

Patrick Marber's Closer is an ideal candidate to kick off Neptune Theatre's studio series in the intimate 200-seat theatre. It's an edgy play about the interconnections between two couples in modern-day London, England.

Closer is funny, bittersweet, and spiced by a frankness about sex rarely seen on the stage these days. Marber takes what seems to be an offhand approach to his characters. The males, a brutish doctor and an obituary writer, project a neediness and vulnerability that adds complexity to their characters. The females, a stripper and a photographer, exude a confidence that ultimately gives them the upper hand in their relationships.

Marber lets the two couples fall apart and reconnect several times in a series of encounters. By the end of the play, a larger, more manipulative plan emerges, one that leaves little room for sentiment.

The production was still working out some kinks on preview night. Director Ed Thomason hadn't quite got the pacing up to speed; the play lingered for two and one half hours. And Denyse Karn's minimal set was a disaster, especially the drop screen where a crucial Internet-chat-room exchange was projected from a computer. The projection equipment didn't form a clear image, leaving much of the audience unable to read the screen. Since practically no dialogue is spoken during this sequence, it appears as five minutes of dead dramatic time.

Despite these first-night hurdles, the four person cast delivered. Nigel Bennett, as the doctor Larry, waded into his role with lusty pleasure; he dueled often with Shelley Thompson, who gave as good as she got as the chic but skittish photographer Anna. While Krista Laveck occassionally let her London accent slip, she still managed to make the stripper Alice a fully human character. Likewise, Steve Coats's accent, in the role of Dan the obit-writer, drifted from London, England to London, Ont., throughout the play. His performance, however, was pleasantly boyish and engaging, a good counterpoint to Bennett's blustery, and sometimes threatening, masculinity.