Episode 096: Dealer's Choice by Patrick Marber

Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Matthew Dunster

Welcome to The Play Podcast where we explore the greatest new and classic plays. Each episode we choose a single play to talk about in depth with our expert guest. We’ll discuss the play’s origins, its themes, characters, structure and impact. For us the play is the thing.

A poker game in the basement of a London restaurant is the setting for six men to play out their dreams and disappointments in Patrick Marber’s first play, Dealer’s Choice. The play premiered at the National Theatre in 1995, and thirty years on a cracking new production is on stage at the Donmar Warehouse in London. I’m delighted to be joined by its director, Matthew Dunster, to explore Marber’s perceptive portrait of male conflict and compulsion.