Les Liaisons Dangereuses: Transitions

Today's rehearsal is mainly devoted to our transitions.  One ongoing conversation throughout the design process has been about using furniture to distinguish among the various settings of the play.  Many scenes take place in Merteuil's salon or Rosemonde's salon, but there are also scenes in several bedrooms, and in Valmont's and Tourvel's homes.  My position from the beginning has been that I don't want this to be a play about furniture, and I think our scenic designer Daniel Hobbs has been successful in this regard.  Today he is here, and choreographing the scenic transitions.

Actors playing the servants are moving the furniture. The script names four servants: Azolan (Valmont's valet), Julie (Tourvel's maid); Adele (Rosemonde's maid); and Majordomo (Merteuil's majordomo...named only by his title, like most of Karen Walker's staff on Will and Grace).  I have added Victoire, one of Merteuil's maidservants in the novel. In the novel, Merteuil discusses sending Victoire out dressed as a footman to deliver letters.  I was interested in this idea of a drag role, since women in breeches show up frequently in libertine novels and on the stage in eighteenth-century France.  But it looks like we won't have a moment to show this, because all the servants need to be involved in all the transitions.

We will also have music during the transitions; our sound designer is negotiating for rights to use a recording of Rameau.  But if we can't afford that, we are looking into creating midi files of pieces like "Plaisir d'Amour" by Martini.

Our stage management team has done a great job keeping things organized.  The initial spike tape has worn down, so Sarah and Laura did a little bit of re-spiking today.  The floor will have an intricate painted design, so we have talked about trying not to have spike tape on it. But we will see what happens.