War is a subjective term. While most of us think of bloody battles and glorious victories (or devastating losses) there are other, more secretive wars raging all around us. The aristocracy is no exception.
Beginning on Saturday, Feb. 6, and running through March 21, Shakespeare & Company in Lenox will host a war of wits with its production of Christopher Hampton's play "Les Liaisons Dangereuses," based on Pierre Choderlos de Laclos' novel of the same name. The plot, which centers around the highly sexual and wickedly codependent relationship between La Marquise de Merteuil (played by Elizabeth Aspenlieder) and Le Vicomte de Valmont (played by Josh Aaron McCabe), forces audiences to consider the razor's edge of civility and barbarism in human society.
"This play has so much relevance today," said the play's director, Tina Packer, Shakespeare & Company's founding artistic director. "There is a huge separation between the rich and the poor. The poor people are the background, as well as the church and acquiescence, to the aristocracy's inhumanity."
This inhumanity that Packer speaks of permeates the play and yet, according to Artistic Director Tony Simotes, is well-hidden by money, status and language.
"You have to consider how this society does things," he said. "They keep it together on a knife's edge. There's never a truthful moment without calculation. If you responded out of impulse, you were weak."
Indeed, there was no room for weakness in the salons and
"This is a story of nuance," Simotes said. "Sex is very complicated, more so than love. It's just as complex offstage as it is onstage."
Packer couldn't agree more. As the founder of Shakespeare & Company and as a formidably seasoned actor and director (she has directed 48 plays at the company and is in her 32nd season), Packer said that the challenges of "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" are both physical and mental.
"This play is a lot of work," she said. "There is a lot of brain work and rehearsal work that is necessary to keep pace with the characters. In some ways it is a comedy of manners. The manners are there in order to obfuscate the violence. Anything horrible that happens gets covered over with manners."
As the often witty and sometimes violent vicomte, McCabe said that in order to achieve his character's balance, there is always much work to be done after rehearsal is over.
"I'm usually a morning person," he said. "I learn my lines at night and early in the morning. I listen to Baroque-style music to get into a certain mood. I need time to let things sink in."
Aspenlieder also expressed a need to contemplate the play in addition to participating in the performance.
"I think about the play when I leave rehearsal," she said. "There's a lot of residual left over that's still palpable. I can still smell it and I get pushed into an awareness of everyday life. No matter the time period, there's still a need to be accepted and loved."
The gritty nature of love, lust, cruelty and shame is, according to McCabe, tempered with more humorous moments as well, allowing audiences and actors alike to breathe, if only for a moment.
"There's such a variety in the scenes," he said. "There are different stories that happen, there are a lot of scenes that are very fun. Yet there is always something different than what is being said. There is always a subtext."
It is this nature of the subtext and the implications for society as a whole that Packer said drew her to "Les Liaisons Dangereuses."
"This play is true for any age," she said. "We assume that the working class is more likely to abuse their wives or whatever. But look at Miss America's father, look at politicians. You assume the senator never does nasty things and yet it happens."
In addition to the intrigue, according to Aspenlieder the production also guarantees audiences a "sumptuous feast of sword fights, sex, violence and humor."
"It's the last play of the whole season," Packer said. "I want to go out with a flourish. It's the dead of winter. I wanted a colorful play to drive away the blahs. Colorful costumes, humor and depth were essential. This play certainly has all of that and more."
"Les Liaisons Dangereuses" previews at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre this weekend, Jan. 29-31, with a 7 p.m. show on Friday and Saturday and a 2 p.m. show on Sunday, and Friday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. Tickets for the preview range from $14 to $30. The show officially opens on Feb. 6 and runs through March 21 with a 7 p.m. show every Friday and Saturday and a 2 p.m. matinee every Saturday and Sunday. Ticket prices for these shows range from $20 to $48 depending on day and time. For more information, visit shakespeare.org or call 413-637-3353.
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