Out of the Margins

"It's been 25 years or so since I wrote this play but I will do my best to remember what I can."

So begins Patrick Marber's generous annotations throughout this rare first edition of his 1997 multiple award winning play, Closer ("Quite rare because I've republished it 4 times since.") 

This charged, tragi-comic, four-way love story-cum-romcom about the destructive potential of love and intimacy and sexual desire must - surely - be written by someone who's touched the deepest, darkest aspects of the human condition? Here's the note from the dedication to "Debra":

"Well, she's now my wife and the mother of our 3 grown up sons. And we're very happy. So... this play might be bleak but the playwright's life turned out OK! So far..."

There are 54 pages of annotations including notes on the use of language back in 1997 and how it compares to today ("A weird line? But not in 1997 when having a mobile was not so common") and how going for a walk in London "gave me the whole play". There are notes on vital sources, "HUGE testicles" (you'll have to buy it to get the context!), Alice's brown leather suitcase "which I kept and still have!", and the key people behind the play without whom it wouldn't exist.

This is such an humorously, generously, affectionately annotated lot, from start to end:

"Anyway, thanks again for buying this book. Please don't share my secrets."

Alongside the annotated first edition, the playwright has contributed some postcards from the original run at the National Theatre.