Secret business revealed

Dealer's Choice by playwright Patrick Marber will be performed at the Peninsula Theatre on August 19 and 20.

Marketing coordinator Ms Terri Graham said the play proved to be a popular theatre production after being named one of the best productions of the year by the Sun Herald newspaper.

"The production appeals to both men and women and could be described as a bit of a secret men's business," Ms Graham said.

"Dealers Choice is much more than just a comedy.

"It is a compelling and compassionate story about father-son relationships, men's bravado and the search for direction and connection.

"With a gripping plot set in a restaurant after closing time, it's usually the same old guys and their weekly friendly poker game, but on this particular night there is a ring-in.

"There is one last dinner guest lurking in the restaurant who volunteers to join the game. "Unknown to the amateur poker players, he is a mean, uncompromising professional gambler, owed a large sum of money by the restaurant owner's compulsive son.

"In the build-up to the inevitable poker game, resentments are stripped bare and the men's secrets divulged.

"The final act involving the game crackles with scalding wit and edge-of-your-seat suspense as the stakes are driven to an almost unbearable knife-edge."

The play is being brought to the Peninsula Theatre by production company Critical Stages for three performances.

The first performance will take place on August 19, from 8pm, followed by a performance on August 20, from 11am and another at 8pm.

Press release, 5 Aug 2009 Terri Graham, Gosford Council