Les Liaisons Dangereuses (National Theatre)

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About the Show

Desire becomes a weapon in this new staging of intrigue, power, and betrayal.

Set within the opulent world of France’s elite, this adaptation explores a society where power and reputation define survival. The Marquise de Merteuil, a master manipulator, and the charismatic Vicomte de Valmont turn seduction into a calculated game of control and revenge. As their partnership unravels into rivalry, their schemes spiral toward devastating consequences.

Directed by Marianne Elliott and starring Lesley Manville and Aidan Turner, this new production of Christopher Hampton’s adaptation of Les Liaisons Dangereuses examines desire, dominance, and the perils of social ambition.

Critic Reviews (7)

"Beneath the play's Wildean bon mots, champagne and glamour, there lurks a dark heart and all-consuming destructive devastation."
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"What’s often missing, though, is the sense of abject cruelty that ought to lie at the heart of this story of cold-blooded seduction."
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"Manville and Turner are simply superb, their performances deep and thoughtful. They make the characters fallibly human, and Elliott makes the evening sing."
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"It's impossible not to root for her, especially when her campaign of destruction claims her as its final victim."
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"As a drama, it emerges as elegant and divertingly nasty; it needs to matter more."
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"Hampton’s play demands a lightness of touch, not the whiff of heavy melodrama. I admired this production but I can’t say I enjoyed it."
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"It is notable that while too much time is spent on spectacle, the characters’ ultimate fates feel rushed; as Manville is driven, literally, off stage in a moment of very contemporary cancellation"
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