Closer emerged as one of the most successful plays of the 1990s, and one with a continuing afterlife through the academy award nominated film adaptation in 2004. Although the work of dramatists such as Sarah Kane and Mark Ravenhill initially attracted the most critical and academic attention, Patrick Marber's Closer had long West End and Broadway runs. The play has since gone on to repeat this success in over 30 other countries.

Graham Saunders is a professor of Department of Drama and Theatre Arts at the University of Birmingham, UK. He has written extensively on contemporary British theatre, including three volumes on the work of Sarah Kane, is the author of Patrick Marber's Closer (Continuum/Bloomsbury, 2008) and co-editor of Cool Britannia: Political Theatre in the 1990s (Palgrave, 2008).

Acknowledgements
1. Background and Context
2. Analysis and Commentary
3. Production History
4. Workshopping Closer
Timeline 1989-1999
Further Reading
References
Index