Dangerous Liaisons
ACT Theatre
Through November 20, 2016
Begin with a beautiful “moment” of set (an ornate door here,
a small French desk there, a divan) and add two handfuls of beautifully dressed
and coiffed actors sailing through and around the set, mix in some biting
sarcasm on love and fidelity, sprinkle a dash – or maybe two or three – of
seduction, and you have the delicious recipe for a murderous dramedy. This is
the world of Dangerous Liaisons at
ACT Theatre.
The world of these pre-revolutionary French aristocrats is
one of cards, wine, social one-upmanship and appearance of propriety.
Christopher Hampton’s play, which you might have seen as a movie, strips away
the velvet coating so we might see the toxic underground of a few particular
combatants. Two in particular are hell-bent on revenge and winning. Or maybe winning
and revenge.
The Marquise de Merteuil (Kirsten Potter) and the Vicomte de Valmont (James DeVita) are former lovers who are honest enough friends to be
able to tell each other everything, it seems. They honestly reveal their needs
for preservation of certain reputations on Valmont’s part – that of a Romeo who
can attain the romantic attentions of any woman he sets his sights on, and on
Merteuil’s desire to get back at her ex-husband.
Merteuil wants Valmont to seduce the child-bride of her
ex-husband, Cecile de Volanges (Jasmine
Jean Sim) so that he can find out on his marriage bed that Cecile is not
what he thought. Valmont, however, longs for a cap on his reputation by
seducing a chaste married woman, Madame de Tourvel (Jen Taylor). He thinks that would be more fun. Merteuil helps him
figure out how to do both things at once.
This involves visiting his aunt, Madame de Rosemonde (Wendy Robie) where everyone
conveniently descends for a few weeks’ vacation. There the pot boils, the
nightly seduction commences, and the intrigue builds toward the twist at the
end that only one of the two combatants can see coming.
DeVita and Potter make excellent foils for one another. He
delivers his seductions with enough passion to reach the back of the audience,
though his love, by the end, of Tourvel is not quite vulnerable enough to
demonstrate its ruin of him. Potter is imperious and controlled and plays the
scenes where she stirs emotions of others with great panache.
Director John Langs
moves everyone around like a master chess player, positioning each for the
kill. He’s cast the show with terrific talents, including bringing Wendy Robie
to our stage for a delicious small role that she makes entirely her own.
Enlisting Brian Sidney Bembridge for
set and lights, where Bembridge’s restraint and elegance shines, and sound
design that suggests but does not overwhelm from Matt Starritt, Langs delivers an atmosphere where we can all focus
exclusively on the actors and the intrigue.
But part of the excess of the play must be focused on the
wonderful costuming from Catherine Hunt.
She brings a wealth of experience in period costuming and presents a swirl of
color and expensive elegance for all the women on stage.
The rest of the talented cast includes Eleanor Moseley as Cecile’s mother, Lorenzo Roberts as Cecile’s music teacher and suitor, Keiko Green as another of Valmont’s
lovers, and Jason Marr as Valmont’s
servant. Marr brings a touch of smirking humor to the play, which sometimes is
a relief, even as he, too, schemes for himself.
A moment near the end had me thinking about the current
political season. Merteuil is finally showing Valmont that she has had the
upper hand the whole time. She says, “You couldn't bear even the vague possibility
of being laughed at. And this has proved something I’ve always suspected. That
Vanity and Happiness are incompatible.”
I think that is the perfect description of one Mr. Donald
Trump. I don’t think anyone can think he is happy, but probably most will agree
with me that he is one of the most vain men in public life. Langs wanted to
equate the messages of the play with current politics, where women are seen as
playthings and men’s vanity can destroy nations. Do you think it’s apt?
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