With just two plays to his name, Patrick Marber, 34, is one of London’s hottest young playwrights. Last week, he became one of New York’s as well.

‘Closer” – Marber’s graphic and lacerating depiction of sex and love in the 1990s – opened to generally positive notices on Friday and has emerged as a strong contender for this year’s Tony Award for Best Play.

It follows two men and two woman who betray each other in and out of bed.

‘They’re four strangers who meet, fall in love, f- – -, f- – – each other up and then f- – – off,” the playwright says.

‘It’s a love story for people in their 20s and 30s who are too sophisticated and too cynical to appreciate love in a romantic way.”

Not that Marber puts himself in that category. In fact, the playwright has been happily ensconced in a relationship with English actress Debra Gillette for three years. They live ‘the life of bourgeois Londoners in the late ’90s,” he says.

His life hasn’t always been this sedate. Before he turned to playwriting, he was a struggling stand-up comedian – and an inveterate gambler.

‘I lost 1,000 pounds a night,” he says. ‘I’d go to the ATM machine, take whatever money I had and blow it all playing blackjack and roulette.”

Eventually, he turned his addiction into his first play, ‘Dealer’s Choice.” That play and ‘Closer” have been produced all over the world, fattening Marber’s bank account.

The newfound wealth has curtailed his gambling.

‘When I didn’t have any money, I had nothing to lose,” he says. ‘Now that I do, I’ve become more cautious.”

Besides, he adds, having a play on Broadway is risky enough.

‘When I’m standing at the back of the house, watching the critics, I get that same queasy feeling I used to get in the casinos. It’s life being lived at a higher level.”