Review: ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuses’ – “Lust, deception and sexual intrigue”

Lust, deception and sexual intrigue are the order of the day in Christopher Hampton’s tantalising adaptation of the 1782 novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses, screened live from the National Theatre. The play follows the Marquise de Merteuil (Janet McTeer) and the Vicomte de Valmont (Dominic West), two old friends and former lovers, in their schemes to corrupt the sexual innocence of their social counterparts in the French ancien régime. To his surprise, Valmont falls in love with Madame de Tourvel (Elaine Cassidy), the woman he is playfully attempting to seduce; Merteuil is equally surprised at her subsequent bitterness and pain. West excelled as the languid aristocratic playboy, bringing the darker elements of his sexually insatiable character to the fore when he forced himself on the young and naïve Cécile Volanges (Morfydd Clark). This made it difficult to sympathise with him, despite his boyish charm, especially because his love for Tourvel (at least in the way West portrays it) seemed insincere somehow, jumping too suddenly from his casual, bored pursuit to being consumed by passion. Indeed, Cassidy’s increasingly hysterical Tourvel persuaded the audience that someone as smooth as West’s Valmont deserved to fall for someone more worthy of his love.

Such a singularly powerful female character as the Marquise de Merteuil is rare in literature.

In any case, the indisputable star of the Les Liaisons Dangereuses was McTeer as the bitingly sarcastic Marquise de Merteuil. Cold, isolated, detached and self-made: such a singularly powerful female character is rare in literature. Her experience in the art of seduction lent her a sense of being older than Valmont, hinting at an almost oedipal relationship between them. The exposition of her education in trickery and deceit revealed an emotionally complicated past; her vulnerability when revealing her feelings for Valmont contrasted well against her otherwise characteristic restraint. One second angry, the next choking back tears, McTeer helped us empathise with the Marquise despite her cruelty. She epitomises the idea that Les Liaisons is, according to Hampton, “a surprisingly feminist play”, full of dominant yet helpless women. This is a play about sex, about power – but also about love, which proves to be a destructive element. Where conventionally love is the goal, here it proves to be the downfall. The conflict of intimacy was heightened by the setting provided in the Donmar Warehouse – the lack of a gap or elevation between the performance space and the audience elicited an immersive effect that contrasted the emotional alienation that arises between the characters.

Lush costumes, hints at the darker side of sexuality, and complicated love triangles are caught up in a “swirl of hedonism”

Watching a screening is inevitably a mixed bag; it was a shame that there was a temporary technical malfunction, but this is a risk one must take with live streaming. At any rate, the period was effectively revealed through the use of candles to light the set, a house in an unsettled state of restoration that reflected the uncertainty of pre-revolutionary France. Set changes were smooth, almost ethereal, and accompanied by haunting yet beautiful choral interludes. Hampton’s script is packed with the aphorisms, euphemisms and dramatic irony that have made it a modern classic. Delivery was dry and occasionally sarcastic – there was an understanding of modern sensibilities, and the play almost parodies the very period dramas it finds itself in league with. In fact, Valmont’s death was strangely quiet against the melodrama seen elsewhere in the play; the dark lighting mirrored the bitter taste of victory left in Merteuil’s mouth. Ultimately, director Josie Rourke’s production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses ticks all the right boxes: lush costumes, hints at the darker side of sexuality, and complicated love triangles, all of which are caught up in a “swirl of hedonism”. Among all the temptations that occur, it is the audience who is truly seduced by the decadent and irresistible majesty of this drama.