LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES by Christopher Hampton. Theatre Royal, York.
York
LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES
by Christopher Hampton, from Laclos
Theatre Royal, York In rep to 16 November 2001
Runs 2hr 55min One interval
TICKETS 01904 623568
Review Timothy Ramsden 19 October
Outer elegance lacks convincing inward motivation in this revival of Hampton's adaptation of an 18th century French shocker.Lust, corruption, power-driven sex; pre-Revolutionary France's elegant society had them all. Laclos' novel is like a sour riposte to the dainty world of Watteau and Fragonard.
Its outer action is described through a series of letters, detailing the corruptions plotted by ex-lover combatants the Marquise de Merteuil (Suzy Cooper) and the Vicomte de Valmont (Gareth Tudor Price). Their victims are the innocent young Cecile Volanges (Abby Ford), the highly moral Presidente de Tourvel (Nicola Barber) and young Chevalier Danceny (Ben Warwick). Emotional manipulation is the plotters' weapon, overcoming moral scruples and, in de Tourvel's case, literally sickening the victim through arising unsatisfied desire.
These events, in Christopher Hampton's well-known RSC adaptation, are chronicled well enough by directors Damian Cruden and Lucy Pitman-Wallace – though whichever of them devised the feeble farce of Valmont hiding behind the furniture as he listens in to his accomplice waylaying one of their victims, should have been summarily dismissed until after the dress rehearsal.
More crucially, these events only make sense if the performances convincingly convey the psychological drives and altered emotional states of the characters. Cooper does this efficiently, though she is limited by employing a restricted range of vocal colouring. But there's a major problem with Gareth Tudor Price's Valmont. Not that the performance is misconceived. Far from it; every move, vocal inflection and facial expression is apt.
The trouble is, it's all so obviously conceived, the deliberate actions of someone displaying a confident aristocratic seducer at second hand. Fine, doubtless, for purist Brecht, but that's not the point here. Valmont needs to be effortless in all he does, and morally someone who has never questioned his approach to life. What Valmont is not, but the actor here is, is a lad deciding to be bad and determined to let everyone know it.
Dawn Allsopp's set for the Theatre Royal's autumn season creates an arc of inhospitable elegance. The projected image of a moving hand seen writing between scenes is aptly replaced at last, as this bored society looks uncomprehendingly ahead, by the figure of Liberty leading her troops.
La Marquise de Merteuil: Suzy Cooper
Mme. de Volanges: Nicola Smythe
Cecile Volanges: Abby Ford
Le Vicomte de Valmont: Gareth Tudor Price
Azolan: Michael Glenn Murphy
Mme. de Rosemonde: Carlene Reed
La Presidente de Tourvel: Nicola Barber
Emilie/Maidservant: Katherine Kelly
Le Chevalier Danceny: Ben warwick
Footman: James Garnon
Co-Directors: Damian Cruden/ Lucy Pitman-Wallace
Designer: Dawn Allsopp
Lighting: Richard G. Jones
Sound: Matt Savage
Fight director: Richard Ryan
2001-10-22 14:10:28