Les Liaisons Dangereuses: First Rehearsal

Our first rehearsal went well. We started off with presentations from the designers.  Our design process began several months ago, and all the designs have gone through revisions and refinements.  I shared the above video with the design team at our first meeting, and I also shared it with the actors last night. It is a computer animation of an eighteenth-century gaming table that transforms for playing card games, chess, and backgammon, or for use as a writing desk.  Certainly the images of games and letter-writing are connected to the play.  As a director, I also find this game table a useful metaphor because so many of the characters are keeping secrets from one another, to be revealed in surprising ways at strategic moments.  

After our designers showed their work, we read through the script.  It was great to hear the scenes out loud, and especially to catch the sexual innuendo in the dialogue.  One of the actors commented that she had watched the film version (the one with Glenn Close and John Malkovich) and didn't find it nearly as funny as the play script.  It's interesting that Christopher Hampton wrote the screenplay for that film and based it on this play. The film restores Merteuil's punishment from the end of the novel, which is absent from the play. 

We are working around some actor conflicts, so we will rehearse tonight but then take a few days off before we start blocking Act I next week.  Tonight's rehearsal will delve into the relationships among Merteuil, Valmont, Cecile, and Danceny.

Here are a couple of photos from last night's read-through: