Renaissance Man: PatrickMarber Trivia

A Burgeoning Bohemian

Marber was once a suburban dreamer, a well-to-do Wimbledon boy who would rather have been raised among the bohemians of Camden. Though his father worked in the City, the young Patrick was hungry for the arts, seeking refuge from his middle-class universe in the subversive novels of Albert Camus and Charles Bukowski .

Marber 's privileged upbringing led him to a place at Oxford University, but Marber decided against following a comfortable career. He instead threw himself into the unpredictable, ego-eroding universe of stand-up comedy. Years of working the circuit ended when rising star Armando Ianucci invited him to join a brave new bunch of comedians – including the likes of Chris Morris and Steve Coogan – on a satirical radio show called ‘On the Hour’.

Marber struck gold when he took one of Steve Coogan 's fledgling personas – a certain sports reporter called Alan Partridge – and helped turn him into a comic archetype to rival Basil Fawlty. Marber would write much of Coogan 's material, but he also made a memorable appearance on ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’ as the barking mad Lieutenant Colonel Kojak Slaphead III.

One of Marber 's great weaknesses was gambling. It was an addiction that consumed thousands and led him to Gambler's Anonymous. Debilitating though it was, his poker fixation would also fuel the writing of his first play...

After a period as one of the kings of clever comedy, Marber ‘threw away the bags of irony’ with the writing of his first play, ‘Dealer's Choice’. Penning this poker drama proved therapeutic for Marber , who finally managed to purge himself of his gambling demons. That the play was a hit must have been the icing on the cake.

Marber 's reputation as a playwright was spectacularly secured by the worldwide smash-hit that was his second play, ‘Closer’. A sexually explicit, witheringly cynical tale about the futility of love, it won the Olivier award and was staged in over 30 languages around the world.