Dealer's Choice
Back in 1995, when the internet poker boom and $12 million World Series of Poker prizes were a distant dream, a play hit the London stage with poker as its main theme. Well, poker was the backdrop, let’s say, to a story of loathing, pent-up aggression, masculinity and fatherhood—just the kind of things you don’t talk about at your Tuesday night home game.
Patrick Marber’s Dealer’s Choice caused a storm, transferring to the West End and New York–as did, four years later, his second play, Closer (which was turned into a film by Mike Nichols with Clive Owen, Julia Roberts and Jude Law–Marber was nominated for a Golden Globe). Now this latest run of Dealer’s Choice has hit the Menier Chocolate Factory in Southwark, south London.
Dealer’s Choice centres around Stephen, an arrogant restaurant owner (Malcolm Sinclair, recently seen on the wrong end of 007’s bullet in Casino Royale) who runs a regular poker game in the basement of his restaurant. The other figures in this rogue’s gallery of players are his gambling-addict son Carl (Samuel Barnett), constantly in debt; reluctant chef Sweeney (Hendon Mobster and poker pro Ross Boatman); Sweeney’s son Frankie (Jay Simpson) and wide-eyed dreamer Mugsy (Stephen Wight), for whom losing ‘unmentionables’ at the baize is as much a thrill as winning. When the mysterious Ash (Roger Lloyd-Pack) turns up one night posing as Carl’s ex-teacher, the scene is set for a final table as explosive as anything seen at the World Series.
The first act introduces the six single men in a restaurant and its kitchen. West has a strong cast who bring out the misery of their characters’ loneliness but also the desperate hope that this will be the night when they start a winning streak despite the heavy odds against.
Chef, Ross Boatman’s Sweeney, can’t say ‘no’ and despite losing his family to gambling keeps going, while his big-talking pal Frankie (Jay Simpson) is going the same way, though he doesn’t see it. The inane Mugsy lives up to his name big time. He is an eternal optimist who is addicted to losing and, even worse, Stephen Wight’s character shouts his stupidity to the rooftops. Keen to get his own restaurant up off the ground, he’s lined up a disused toilet as the location for his dream eatery.
They are compared and contrasted with wealthy restaurateur Stephen, a seemingly tough man who likes his Sunday night game because it gives his life order and allows him to control the staff—and his son, Carl. Stephen is the one who seems furthest from addiction but the final scenes (without wanting to give it away) throw even this small certainty into doubt.
Barnett’s young Carl is a hopeless case. He is heavily indebted and addicted to the dishonesty that becomes the perennial gambler’s closest friend. It’s Carl who introduces the poker-faced Ash, a professional gambler played by Lloyd-Pack, into the game, knowing that he will clean out them all and cause serious distress to his father and friends.
The second half takes place over the card table and Marber ensures that the tension builds nicely to a final pot which will decide who wins and who loses. In reality though, just as death is a certainty, so is losing, even for the apparent winners. And as the players get taken out one by one, bad beat over bad beat, the simmering tensions between the men boil over, the cold, calculating Ash the calmest figure in the room. At the end of the day, it’s the professional gambler who reacts so indifferently to winning.
A great use of scenery (some clever design from Tom Piper), the restaurant ‘floor’ is raised in the second half of the play to form the ‘ceiling’ of the basement poker room, and provides a metaphor, as the players descend to this dark, foreboding netherworld below. The performances are standout throughout, particularly the imposing Malcolm Sinclair as the patriarchal figure, Stephen Wight as the wide-eyed dreamer (haven’t we all come across one of those over the poker table) and Roger Lloyd-Pack, playing against type as the calm but ruthless card shark.
As Marber himself said, Dealer’s Choice is a play about “a specific poker game and the poker game that competitive men are condemned to play endlessly. This play is ostensibly about a card school viewed through one night of poker. However, this is merely a metaphor for the masculine obsessions to win and lose and the inability to communicate and bond, let alone build long term relationships.” The cast is all-male and the play perfectly observes the bonds between men: the way that banter, insults, and most of all game-playing, substitute for direct acknowledgment of the emotional stakes between co-workers, between father and son, between boss and workers.
As we went to print, it was announced that Dealer’s Choice would be embarking on a West End run for 16 weeks. The Menier’s production, which has broken the theatre’s box office records, will open at Trafalgar Studios 1 on December 6th. Perfect for poker players keen to try out the theatre and for theatre-goers wanting to see what this poker business is all about. Don’t miss it.
Acting Up
gambling.com caught up with some of the cast of Dealer’s Choice.
Ross Boatman
Ross is well-known in poker circles as a member of the famous Hendon Mob along with brother Barny, Joe Beevers and Ram Vaswani. Known to British audiences for his part in TV drama London’s Burning, this was a long overdue return to the stage:
Ross, how is it being back in the theatre?
I’m lovin’ it. I haven’t been on the stage for 10 years, but it’s great to be back. I actually appeared in this play ten years ago [playing Frankie].
Did you act as a technical consultant for the poker scenes?
It’s not quite so important in this setting. The characters are just ordinary guys who play in a weekly home game. But I certainly was giving the guys some coaching backstage!
I saw you all at the Vic [Grosvenor Victoria casino] playing recently.
My director [Sam West] wanted to get some first-hand experience so we all went down for a few hands. Roger [Lloyd-Pack] and Jay [Simpson] have played a bit. I taught Jay how to play about 5 years ago—but they’ve got a bit to learn.
You’ve had some good results this year though.
Yeah, I had a good World Series. I came close in the $5000 No Limit event—I came 10th. I wanted that final table so bad! The next day I finished 20th in the $2000 event. It could have been a really good WSOP for me. At that point I was looking certain to get one over the other Hendon mob guys, until Ram [Vaswani] won his bracelet [Ram took down the $1,500 Limit Hold’em Shootout].
You must be missing a lot of poker because of the play.
Yeah, a lot of the guys are going over to Baden for the EPT, and I couldn’t make the WSOPE because I was rehearsing this— a worthy sacrifice though.
Will we see you making a return to more acting then?
Hopefully so, it depends on what the reviews are like! It’s all going well, and acting always comes first, regardless of the money—well most of the time. But I’ll always play poker. I’ll be playing online during the day and coming to the theatre at night.
Do you think we’ll see non-theatre-going poker fans coming along?
Well, it’s not a play about poker as such, but hopefully we’ll get poker players along. For anyone who’s played a home game, I think it’ll bring a lot of memories back. The game in the play is actually based on a game that I played in with Patrick Marber about 15 years ago, which my brother came along to as well. It’s kind of based on that game: the digging, the insults, it all stems from that.
Well you’re pretty good in it.
Pretty good?! I’m the best thing in it!
How many ‘unmentionables’ have you had yourself?
Too many, too many. I recently lost £25,000 in one night then I had to come in and act in the play which has all these big losers in it. I would have had to work here for about three years to pay that back!
Roger Lloyd-Pack:
Best known to TV audiences as Trigger in Only Fools and Horses, and Harry Potter fans as Barty Crouch in the film versions, Roger Lloyd-Pack returns to the London stage as Ash, a ruthless professional gambler.
You’ve played poker for twelve years. You obviously knew the game coming into the play.
Yes, I’ve played for a long time, but I wouldn’t say I was very proficient—I didn’t know what ‘going on Tilt’ meant, or positions or things like that. I do now of course, working with Ross!
What’s your poison of choice?
I play a local cash game, and we mainly play Omaha Hi-Lo, very rarely Hold ‘em because the guys like a bit of action. We’ve got a pool of about 8 or 9 people, playing once a fortnight. I’m not really aggressive enough to be good [laughs]. In one sense I’m more comfortable losing—I don’t feel so bad if I win money off someone. I’ve always been slightly embarrassed about the desire to win!
How did you approach Ash? He’s quite a nasty character.
He’s a sad character, quite a lonely figure–I used memories I had of quite depressed poker players I once knew, and tried to put myself in their shoes.
I have to ask about Only Fools and Horses. Obviously it was a huge success, and Trigger was an iconic figure. Are you still recognised for that?
Yes of course, it’s inevitable. But it’s a double-edged sword. The extraordinary thing is that Fools is as popular now as it ever was, and young people love it. I’m lucky to have it of course and it can be a bit trying sometimes, but it’s always nice to try something new. The funny thing is I nearly stopped doing Only Fools and Horses before it really took off, just after the 1st series back in the early ’80s. And look what happened! [Only Fools and Horses ran on BBC1 for 22 years including numerous Christmas specials]
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Posted by jamesmcb – 12 Dec 2007, 5:19 PM
Boatman is a legend!