Review: LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES at the National Theatre

Stuart King 2 April, 2026, 11:25

Christopher Hampton’s play LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES based on the extraordinary novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos (when is someone going to make a movie of that man’s life?) was a revelation back in the mid 1980s. The RSC’s production had opened at Stratford, moved to the Barbican, and I finally got to see it one drizzly London afternoon at the Ambassador’s Theatre. I was shocked and dazzled by the play’s wit, its sexual audacity, and most of all by the characters’ crackling dialogue which in the mouths of Alan Rickman and Lindsay Duncan exuded decadent contempt. Now, the Lyttelton stage at the National Theatre plays host to director Marianne Elliott’s electrifying vision.

Aidan Turner and Lesley Manville in LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES. Photo by Sarah Lee.

Starring Lesley Manville as the Marquise de Merteuil and Aidan Turner as the Vicomte de Valmont, the former lovers share an intimacy which allows them to treat everyone in their orbit as mere play things to be trifled with and enjoyed for their entertainment value. To alleviate any possibility of aristocratic boredom, the pair coax and goad each other into deploying their charms and abilities at seduction solely for the purposes of destroying the reputations of the innocent and naive. No-one is beyond their disdain — the more vulnerable the target, the more delicious their undoing. In 1780 the wealthiest 1% of French citizens owned roughly two-thirds of all private property and it is this fact which underpins the craven embrace of wickedness with utter impunity.

Hampton’s meticulous reference to the letter exchanges which formed the basis of the orginal 1779 novel (written a decade before Madame La Guillotine began her reign of terror) lend his script its biting acidity. Of course lessons must be learned and the succession of cruel triumphs are eventually upended when Cécile de Volanges (Hannah van der Westhuysen) submits to her seduction, finds she enjoys it, and learns all she can with the aim of turning the tables on the Vicomte and Marquise. By today’s standards the grooming and rape of a young woman would have everyone clamouring from their social media battlements (and indeed other reviewers may do so), but for me the play serves an altogether deeper purpose in not only demonstrating the ubiquity of patriarchy but also the lengths to which women down the ages have been forced to stoop to assert agency, even at the expense of members of their own sex.

When the Vicomte acts a go between in the exchange of letters between Cécile and a naive young Chevalier Danceny (Darragh Hand) it is not long before he uses the ruse to seduce the former at the home of his aunt (lovely to see Gabrielle Drake back in the West End). He manages to complete her ‘education’ while pursuing the true object of his affection the fervently religious and pious Madame de Tourvel (Monica Barbaro - whose dance credentials are put to good use here). Meanwhile, to complete the circle, the Marquise educates the young Danceny by taking him as her lover. Morals and boredom make for uneasy bedfellows.

Beneath a huge planet-sized globe of candles the cast deliver their scenes at a whirlwind pace amidst Rosanna Vize’s set of constantly moving mirrored booths and a surround fresco of Botticelli-esque beauties. With opulent colour splashes delivered via Natalie Roar’s costumes and combative energy heightened through fight director Sam Lyon-Behan’s knife sequence, this isn’t a mere fan-waving piece of frippery. There is real danger, real excitement and delicious malicious jeopardy in spades.

LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES continues at the National Theatre (Lyttelton) until 6th June and runs 3 hours including the 20 minutes interval.