It forms part of the fantastic National Theatre Live series and was filmed live at the magnificent Donmar Warehouse in London’s West End, following successful productions of Coriolanus and King Lear, which were filmed at the same theatre and screened locally.
In 1782, Choderlos de Laclos’ novel of sex, intrigue and betrayal in pre-revolutionary France scandalised the world. Two hundred years later, Christopher Hampton's irresistible adaptation swept the board, winning the Olivier and Evening Standard awards for Best Play. Josie Rourke’s revival now marks the play’s 30-year anniversary.
In the play, former lovers the Marquise de Merteuil (Janet McTeer) and Vicomte de Valmont (Dominic West) now compete in games of seduction and revenge. Merteuil incites Valmont to corrupt the innocent Cecile de Volanges (Morfydd Clark) before her wedding night, but Valmont has targeted the peerlessly virtuous and beautiful Madame de Tourvel. (Elaine Cassidy). While these merciless aristocrats toy with others’ hearts and reputations, their own may prove more fragile than they suppose.
Directed by Josie Rourke (Coriolanus), the cast includes Elaine Cassidy (The Paradise), Janet McTeer (The Honourable Woman), and Dominic West (The Wire, The Affair). It also features Adjoa Andoh, Theo Barklem-Biggs (Azolan), Morfydd Clark, and Edward Holcroft, who make their Donmar debut in Les Liaisons Dangereuses.
Elaine Cassidy returns to the Donmar after her performances in Fathers and Sons and Les Parents Terribles (Donmar Trafalgar Season). Janet McTeer returns to the Donmar after starring opposite Harriet Walter in Donmar associate director Phyllida Lloyd’s production of Mary Stuart in 2005. Dominic West returns to the Donmar following his critically acclaimed performance in Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s Life is a Dream.
Josie Rourke is artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse where she has directed The Recruiting Officer, The Physicists, Berenice, The Weir (which transferred to Wyndham’s Theatre), Privacy, Coriolanus (also broadcast by National Theatre Live), City of Angels (Olivier Award Winner – Best Musical Revival) and The Vote. In 2011 her production of Much Ado About Nothing, starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate, ran in the West End at Wyndham’s Theatre and received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Revival.
Christopher Hampton is a prolific playwright, screenwriter and director. As well as the stage play Les Liaisons Dangereuses, he also wrote the screenplay for the 1988 film adaptation, Dangerous Liaisons, starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. More recently Christopher adapted Ian McEwan’s Atonement for the screen, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Launched in 2009, National Theatre Live enables audiences to experience the best of British theatre throughout the year, as the National brings cameras into the auditorium to record and broadcast performances from stage to screen. National Theatre Live broadcasts have been seen by an audience of over 4 million people at 2000 venues in 50 countries. The Donmar previously collaborated with National Theatre Live in 2010 on King Lear with Derek Jacobi and Coriolanus in 2014 with Tom Hiddleston.
• From the Olivier Theatre, Shakespeare’s As You Like It, with Rosalie Craig as Rosalind, to be screened from Saturday, 19 March;
• The acclaimed West End transfer of the Royal Court Theatre production of Hangmen by Olivier and Academy Award winner Martin McDonagh, with a cast including David Morrissey, Andy Nyman and Johnny Flynn, from London’s Wyndham’s Theatre, will be screened from 9 April.
Les Liaisons Dangereuses releases on South African screens from Saturday, 5 March for four screenings only: on 5, 9 and 10 March at 7.30pm and on 6 March at 2.30pm – at Cinema Nouveau theatres in Joburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town. The running time of this production is three hours, including a 15-minute interval.
For booking information on Les Liaisons Dangereuses, download the Ster-Kinekor App on any smartphone for updates, news and to make a booking, go to www.cinemanouveau.co.za or sterkinekor.mobi. Follow on Twitter @nouveaubuzz and on Facebook at Cinema Nouveau. For queries, contact Ticketline on 0861 Movies (668 437).
