"Les Liaisons Dangereuses" review, The Carroll News Vol. 75, No. 11, December 1, 1988
"Les Liaisons Dangereuses" worth the wait
She has a proposition for him: she wants him to seduce Cecily, the finance of her former lover. They would both profit; both would gain revenge upon a man who stole her heart and his lover.
This is not a storyline from a nighttime favorite soap. This is the opening scene of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the Cleveland Play House's production based on Chorderlos de Laclos' novel of the decadent lives of French nobility on the 1780s.
It is the Marquise de Merteuil (Carol Mayo Jenkins) who presents the proposition to La Vicomte de Valmont (Paul Rossilli), and starts a series of well-calculated love affairs laced with deceit and treachery, that fittingly ends in a deal to the death.
Jenkins delivers the acerb wit of the Marquise with precision. Rossilli provides perfect accompaniment with his harsh yet funny and accurate observations of the Marquise and of the webs she weaves. Their chemistry carries the audience through the play's long, slowly unfolding plot line.
The dialogue between the Marquise and the Vicomte runs like a well-choreographed fencing duel, with both scoring high in points but neither coming out as the clear winner.
The set and costumes were beautifully designed and added a dazzling touch to a long, but scintillating escape into the world of 18th-century France.
She has a proposition for him: she wants him to seduce Cecily, the finance of her former lover. They would both profit; both would gain revenge upon a man who stole her heart and his lover.
This is not a storyline from a nighttime favorite soap. This is the opening scene of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, the Cleveland Play House's production based on Chorderlos de Laclos' novel of the decadent lives of French nobility on the 1780s.
It is the Marquise de Merteuil (Carol Mayo Jenkins) who presents the proposition to La Vicomte de Valmont (Paul Rossilli), and starts a series of well-calculated love affairs laced with deceit and treachery, that fittingly ends in a deal to the death.
Jenkins delivers the acerb wit of the Marquise with precision. Rossilli provides perfect accompaniment with his harsh yet funny and accurate observations of the Marquise and of the webs she weaves. Their chemistry carries the audience through the play's long, slowly unfolding plot line.
The dialogue between the Marquise and the Vicomte runs like a well-choreographed fencing duel, with both scoring high in points but neither coming out as the clear winner.
The set and costumes were beautifully designed and added a dazzling touch to a long, but scintillating escape into the world of 18th-century France.