Christopher Hampton

NT Live: Les Liaisons Dangereuses

25/06/26

Dominion Cinema, Edinburgh

The latest offering from NT Live has arrived in cinemas and there’s only one venue in Edinburgh swish enough to do it justice. We book a reclining sofa at The Dominion and settle down, prepared to be blown away – and we most certainly are. This stunning adaptation of Christopher Hampton’s 1985 play (based upon the 1782 novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos) incorporates Hampton’s wonderfully witty and unflinchingly brutal dialogue punctuated by stirring dance sequences where everyone – including the leads – hoofs up a storm. Marianne Elliott directs the huge cast with consummate skill, while choreographer Tom Jackson Greaves has the lavishly costumed performers prowling, spinning and leaping around Rosanna Vize’s extraordinary set, where scores of mirrored doorways reflect the action like a kaleidoscope of intrigue.

The Marquise de Merteuil  (Lesley Manville) and the Vicomte de Valmont (Aidan Turner) are old acquaintances. Once lovers, they are now notorious philanderers, who spend their time seducing, exploiting and humiliating virtually everyone they encounter, taking delight in the chaos they create. It’s clear that Valmont still carries a torch for Merteuil so, when she makes a wager with him, he quickly accepts the challenge. She will spend one more night with him, but only if he can manage to seduce two women: the virtuous wife, Madame de Tourval (Monica Barbaro), and Cécile de Volanges (Hannah van der Westhuysen), an innocent young girl, currently infatuated with her music tutor.

Valmont sets to work, mercilessly exploiting both women without a thought for the destruction he is wreaking – and little realising that Merteuil has elaborate plans of her own…

All the leads play their roles with absolute conviction, Turner relishing his characterisation of a brutish, swaggering hedonist without a single qualm about the cruelty he inflicts on his targets. Manville matches his arrogance with a sly, smiling assurance that tells us she has his measure and knows exactly how to handle him. (It’s fascinating to note that back in 1985, Manville played Cécile de Volanges on Broadway.)

Barbaro, meanwhile, is utterly compelling as a God-fearing woman, struggling to resist her inner demons and utterly destroyed when they finally overcome her. Van der Westhuysen also excels as an ingénue, blissfully unaware that she is destined to inherit all the guiles of those who have used her so cruelly.

But the ensemble are much more than bit-players: every performer on the stage gives the show their all. If the first half is sensational, the second – as all the carefully-layered plot threads come hurtling to their inescapable conclusion – is utterly thrilling.

A seat for this show in London’s West End, would cost you hundreds of pounds, but here’s your opportunity to make your own dangerous liaison closer to home at a more affordable price.

5 stars

Philip Caveney

Art

11/02/19

King’s Theatre, Edinburgh

I’ve been going to the theatre for a very long time now and, over the years, I must have seen literally thousands of productions.

But I’ve never seen Art. Which is faintly puzzling when you consider how ubiquitous this clever three-hander is. Written by French playwright Yasmina Reza and translated by Christopher Hampton, it first hit the UK in 1996, and enjoyed a residence at London’s Wyndham Theatre that lasted for eight years. Since then, it has had many revivals in a variety of locations and featured a whole host of celebrity names. But, for whatever reasons, I have somehow comprehensively failed to catch up with it – so this touring production from the Old Vic provides an ideal opportunity to rectify the situation.

Serge (Nigel Havers) has recently bought a painting, an original by a much celebrated contemporary artist. What’s more, he has paid two hundred thousand pounds for it, much to the disgust of his long-time friend, Marc (Dennis Lawson). When he looks at the picture, all he can see is a large white rectangle, which he immediately brands as a piece of ‘white merde.’ Marc wants Serge to admit that he’s been duped and, to this end, he enlists the help of their mutual friend Yvan (Stephen Tompkinson, in what is arguably the play’s showiest role) to convince Serge of his mistake. Yvan is one of those mild-mannered souls who basically wants to please everybody all of the time, so it’s a delight to watch as he attempts to walk a precarious tightrope strung between his two best friends’ unshakeable egos. There’s one nervy extended monologue from him that earns a round of applause all of its own.

This is a play about art, about how we perceive it in different ways. It is also, to some extent about class, but it’s mostly about friendship and the importance of having people we can trust. And how, oddly, our friends’ responses to a plain white canvas can feel uncomfortably personal, a judgement on us all.

As the three old friends embark on a doomed attempt to enjoy a night out, their various differences come looming like flotsam to the stormy surface and the result is fast, frenetic and very funny. There’s an extended silent sequence where the three men sit in Serge’s living room eating olives that is so perfectly delivered it has me in fits of laughter at every clink of an olive pit.

Don’t go the King’s expecting a slow, leisurely unfolding of the plot. This is a lean, lively sprint, peppered with witty dialogue and delivered by three seasoned actors who have clearly played these characters enough times to know them like old friends – which, in a way, is the raison d’être for seeing this.

It’s only taken me twenty-two years to catch up but I’m glad I’ve finally ticked this one off my ‘to see’ list. Don’t leave it as long as I have.

4.2 stars

Philip Caveney