Winner of, amongst others, Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play, Critic's Circle Award for Best Play, Time Out Award for Best New Play 1997, it has since become an established and popular classic of contemporary theatre. The play was made into a highly successful Hollywood film in 2004 starring Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Natalie Portman, and Jude Law and for which Portman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and Owen was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

'Love and sex are like politics: it's not what you say that matters, still less what you mean, but what you do. Patrick Marber understands this perfectly, and in Closer he has written one of the best plays of sexual politics in the language: it is right up there with Williams' Streetcar, Mamet's Oleanna, Albee's Virginia Woolf, Pinter's Old Times and Hare's Skylight.' The Sunday Times "Patrick Marber's searing follow-up to Dealer's Choice establishes him as the leading playwright of his generation." Independent on Sunday This Student Edition comes complete with a full introduction, plot synopsis, commentary, discussion of the film version, bibliography and questions for study. It is the perfect edition for anyone studying the play at school or college.