Stylish, elegant and high class

Eighteenth century French novelist, Choderlos de Laclos could not have wished for a better playwright than Christopher Hampton to translat and adapt Les Liaisons Dangereuses, his provocative and titillating novel of sexual politics.

Hampton's cut and thrust dialogue pierces the artifice and thin veil of sexual deceit and revent with an armament of double entendre, innuendo and rapier like wit.

The play is in two acts with 18 short scenes, displaying the thrust and counterthrust of artful seduction by the lascivious Vicomte de Valmont (Duncan Ley) at the behest of his former lover, the conniving Marquise de Merteuil (Hannah Ley).

All is far in love and war between the sexes in Laclos's 18th century France, as Merteuil exhorts Vicomt to defile the virginity of innocent, convent-reared Cecile Volanges (Lexi Sekuless).

Moral ambiguity hangs above the doubtful deeds of upper-class society in a cloud of judgement that casts its long shadow across the moral strictures of our modern age. Predatory seduction, sexual inequality and artful complicity in the ruination of life and reputation are the weapons of spite and supremacy in a devious and dangerous game, played out by Valmont and Merteuil.

Hampton's adaptation, constructed chiefly in a series of duologes, skilfully staged by Driver, presents a game of guile versus gullibility, in which only the strongest may survive. In the end, the perpetrator of deception becomes also the victim of the most elusive of noble virtues, true love. Vicomte's love for the pure La Presidente de Tourvel (Helen McFarlane) renders him a slave to his own passion with no option but to fall upon his sword in penance for the destruction his vanity has wrought. The monster consumed is the demon destroyed.

Through the mirror of the period we are best able to see the reflection of our own time, and Ian Croker's elegant and stylish design provides the ideal setting for the period. The scene changes, although taking too long to effectively sustain tension, have been tastefully embellished with Baroque harpsichord compositions and projected images of seduction of the Rococo era.

Director Driver sculpts his production with the skill of an artisan, drawing finely shaped performances from his main actors, caught within the tangled web of deceit. Appropriate nudity is also tastefully stage, lending the entire production an authenticity, grace and charm that befits Hampton's social comedy of sexual manners.

Les Liaisons Dangereuses offers director Duncan Driver and his able cast a battleground of polemic and theatrical delight. Canberra Repertory's stylish, elegant and skilfully staged production guarantees a high-class and thoroughly entertaining night at the theatre.