Synopsis A young man has an affair with a married woman. He is terrified her husband will challenge him to a duel and kill him. At a party, he flirts with a girl who believes she is truly loved. Life seems full of joy. The doorbell rings. The husband enters the room. The power of sexual longing, the cruelty of tradition, the vulnerability of those in love. Running time: 2hrs (including an interval)
European retro chic has swept into the Young Vic with a vengeance in this revival by the great Swiss director Luc Bondy of Arthur Schnitzler’s fin de siècle love and death comedy Liebelei, in a new version by David Harrower; but, excuse me, from which literal translation is Harrower filching his play? Even Faber, the publishers, aren’t letting on.
It’s a glorious staging, indifferently acted by a quartet of hot young performers, with a fatally fidgety and under-powered third act from Kate Burdette as Christine, tangled in lust with Tom Hughes’ decadent Fritz who’s in turn stumbled into a duel as a result of an affair with an (unseen) married woman.
This is Hughes’ stage debut and it shows (he’s scored a hit in the Ian Dury film, Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll), but he’s a very handsome young man and he’s well partnered in hedonistic transgression by Jack Laskey’s floppy Theodore, a bespectacled, spiky-haired David Tennant type.
The fourth member of the Viennese party whirl is Natalie Dormer’s gorgeously attractive peach-clad Mizi, more forcefully inexperienced than Burdette, but with compensating personality (she was an incredibly steamy Anne Boleyn in The Tudors on television).
Bondy and his designers Karl-Ernst Herrman (set and lights) and Moidele Bickel (costumes) have reconfigured the Young Vic with stark architectural verve: a circular raised stage revolves slowly in an art deco limbo of severe white walls and a purple drum. The audience sits like an Eastern European parliament in seats behind newly raised black panels.
This places us in a sort of judgmental neutrality while the party swings, the shadows of moralising vengeance loom and Hayley Carmichael’s grim gossip of a neighbour Katharina tries to console Christine’s anxious father (David Sibley).
Schnitzler’s third act is set back stage in a theatre, but all we see, alas, are some tantalizingly lit music stands. Tom Stoppard translated the play for the National as Dalliance in 1986 (with Brenda Blethyn and Sally Dexter as the party girls), but was no more successful than Bondy in striking to the bitter sweet heart of this elusive, fascinating writer.
Bondy – last at the Young Vic with his Martin Crimp Sophocles update, Cruel and Tender, in 2004 – is a welcome guest, mounting the show in collaboration with his own Vienna Festival and the Warwick Arts Centre. You have to say, though, Sweet Nothings isn’t a patch on the David Hare/Sam Mendes treatment of La Ronde as The Blue Room in 1998.
I agree with the above, I wish I had left at the interval, which was so long it only added to late arrival for food and drink at the end. Should have cut out the middle man of the evening. Tedios. - Suboo
21 Apr 10
Sweet Nothings should be renamed Sweet FA because for 2 hours plus interval almost nothing happens except for a supposed climax which is absurdly presaged in the opening scene. The first half is like Rope in that deeply unappealing charcaters drink and talk without moving the story forwards. The second half is slightly better thanks to Kate Burdette who manages to bring some depth to Christina. The cast are not hepled bby a ridiculous set: semi in the round played on a raised stage with some of the action played out below stage level for no good reason. The only other saving grace is Natalie Dormer, apparently making her stage debut. She was just about the only good thing in the risible Tudors and has a voice ideally suited to M&S food adverts and a beautiful face which drew the attention away from anything else happening on stage - which in this case was almost nothing at all. - David Baxter
07 Apr 10
nothing to raise interest in the characters or their plight - only time i've ever left in the interval - james
05 Apr 10
The Young Vic has pulled off another coup by getting Swiss director Luc Bondy again; he's a world-class figure whose productions people in most European countries would be queuing up for; not London, of course! This is an excellent adaptation of an Arthur Schnitzler play by David Harrower, whose Blackbird was a huge success in both London and Edinburgh a few years back. Two soldiers party with two girls when they are interrupted by a man who challenges one of the soldiers to a duel as he's discovered his wife has been having an affair with him. In the second half we move to the life of the offending soldiers' girlfriend, her father, friend and neighbour before and after the duel.It isn't the play itself that engages you as much as it's unpredictability, brooding atmosphere and sexual tension. There's a terrific physicality which draws you in like a voyeur and keeps you intrigued by the characters. The performances are uniformly fine, with a brilliant cameo from Hayley Carmichael as the busybody neighbour. I wasn't sure I understood the point of all of the design / staging choices (which might mean they were seemless and effective!). High black back panels have been added to the Young Vic seats. There is a revolve, but it's so slow it doesn't complete one revolution in each half. There is a pit which is a kitchen in the first half and an orchestra pit in the second. In one short scene, the house lights are turned on. In the end, though, I was gripped by the intrigue, the sexual chemistry and the relationships. I almost gave it a miss - it was a visit I only planned at short notice - but I was very glad I didn't. - Gareth James
24 Mar 10
I'm surprised by the good reviews of this play. I saw a preview and thought the actors had little chemistry and none of the characters were likeable which meant that the audience did not care about their fates. - jumbo prawn
18 Mar 10
i loved the set, and the staging was good in part, but that was not enough for me - poor casting and a boring adaptation. i also left at the interval. - Alex
13 Mar 10
Totally agree with the previous comments. The play itself lacks any drive, drama or emotion and leaves the actors with nothing to work with. I stayed for the whole play, but I wish I had left. - ludo99
10 Mar 10
actors enjoying themselves more than the audience,unflattering womens costumes and generally poor over the top acting---I also left at the interval.Totally agree with the above comments. - chrissie
10 Mar 10
I lost the will to live in the first 20 mins, then it got a bit better as the characters got more drunk.
Unfortunatly it wasn't enough to stop me from leaving at the overlong interval. It's 'Pains of Youth' all over again, but in a slightly more interesting staging where people just throw stuff about the set as it slowly revolves.
Turged awfullness of the highest order. REALLY REALLY hope the young vic does something worthwhile soon. I worry that they'll go into administration. - Cassox
[TMA] member. 2004 - to close for an estimated 18 to 24 months to undergo an essential overhaul costing £12.5 million. Re-opened Oct. 2006 with the new auditoria named in honour of two theatre women, designer Maria Bjornson and director Clare Venables who died in 2002 and 2003 respectively. The Maria seats 160 while the Clare seats 80.
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