The Stage

Dangerous Liaisons

Published Tuesday 4 May 2010 at 09:29 by Victor Hallett

This is recognisably a Mappa Mundi production. Exaggeratedly formal 18th-century dance movements set to funky music. Lurid red lighting spilling on to a bright red set and fantastic costumes emphasising the decaying aristocracy’s contrast to the more sober, virtuous members of society - the whole effect being deliciously decadent.

It also constantly reminds you that this is an adaptation of a novel written entirely in letter form by the actors, addressing with a written formality those standing next to them or by showing events being described in scenes which mix and merge.

The chief manipulator Merteuil is brought to sublimely viperish life by Lynne Seymour. Her utter untrustworthiness is matched by Keiron Self’s rough diamond of a Valmont, an unusual interpretation, but one which works well. Jenny Livsey is the virtuous Madame de Tourvel and she makes luminous a character who can often seem lifeless.

Lizzie Rogan comes close to stealing the show as Cecile, the convent-educated virgin who “reluctantly” embraces a quite different education with great gusto.

It’s a true company performance with strong acting, superb movement and a remarkable use of stillness, which never becomes static. The firm direction and the sumptuous costumes are both the work of Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones and he has created a production with not a single false moment.

It’s richly and wickedly funny but towards the end the comedy falls away to reveal the bleak and devastating darkness at its core. It is the most satisfying thing I’ve ever seen from Mappa Mundi.