Student Production of Les Liasons Dangeruese Heats Up Richmond’s Stage

20/04/2009

Education is never a waste,” intones the sly and devious
Vicomte de Valmont to the innocent Cecile as he seduces her. Five mi
nutes before he was declaring his love and devotion to the virtuous
Madame de Trouvel, and ten minutes before that he was gleefully plot
ting with the villainous Marquise de Merteuil – among other things.
The intricate relationship between lust and love, fiction and fact a
ll came to a forefront in the Theatre Department’s spring product ion
of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" by Christopher Hampton.
The show premiered on 30 March and ran until 3 April. The cast,
mostly theatre minors, was diverse and truly representative of
Richmond. Degree and study abroad students from different grade
levels, majors, and countries were all involved in producing the 18th
century drama of intrigue, love, and revenge. The result was a
decided triumph, with full house performances on two of the five
nights. Those who were able to see it were awed by the costumes and
even more impressed by the acting, many stating that the production was of professional quality and could just have easily run on the
West End as in the Richmond theatre.
The success of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" was largely dependent
on the friendships formed backstage. The cast became a tight family
unit as the play went on and had lots of fun performing the play,
playing up the innuendos (of which there are many) and the subtext in
general. Their enthusiasm led to what the director terms, the ideal
drama. “It’s dark, it’s mysterious, it’s sexual, it’s frightening, it
is perverse, it is challenging, it is tragic , i t has humor, it has
great humanity, it has great danger in it.” The main focus of great
theatre is, in his words, “extremes in terms of human experience.”
Here, Les Liaisons Dangereuses did not disappoint.

CAST (in order of appearance):

Marquise de Merteuil: Julia Hatmaker
Madame de Volanges: Victoria Yeppes Brown Cecile de Volanges: Erica Sirgo Major Domo to Merteuil: Sharif El-Kurdhi Vicomte de Valmont: Edmond Eisenberg
Azolan: Piet Coeliwij
Madame de Rosemonde: Chelsea Wallach
Adele - lady in waiting to Rosemond: Nadia Omar Madame de Tourvel: Valery Blake Bond-Upson Julie - lady in waiting to Mme. de Tourvel: Mandi Sterling
Emilie: Blythe Bauer
Chevalier Danceny: Douglas Roberge
Stage-managers: Ashley Faggianelli and Anna Bravova
Lighting: Emma Kiessling.

The Theatre Society generally perform on campus at least once a term. Please contact Dr. Barclay if you are interested in getting involved.

Link to this page: http://www.richmond.ac.uk/n/738.aspx