Review: Les Liaisons Dangereuses

in the Lyttelton Theatre @ the National until June 6th 2026

Director: Marianne Elliott

Writer: Christopher Hampton

Cast: Lesley Manville, Aidan Turner, Monica Barbaro, Darragh Hand & Gabrielle Drake

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There was a minor shitstorm recently when Lesley Manville asserted that the use of phones and cameras during curtain calls is “insulting”. Though of course I would never deign to disagree with one of our greatest stage and screen actors (though she is wrong, and profoundly so), having now seen this revival of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, in which Manville is currently starring, I’m much more sympathetic to her desire for there to be as little photographic evidence of the event as possible…

Premiering in 1985, Christopher Hampton’s play is an adaptation of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ novel of the same name about two nobles, Marquise de Merteuil and Vicomte de Valmont, who take great pleasure in inflicting cruelty on others through the use of sexual games and manipulation. If this sounds familiar, it might be because you’ve seen the 1988 film of the same name, also written by Hampton, or Cruel Intentions, Roger Kumble’s deliciously silly and modern take on the story. Most recently staged in London at the Donmar Warehouse a decade ago, with Dominic West and Janet McTeer as the leads, the play now resides at the Lyttelton Theatre in a mediocre and listless revival, directed by Marianne Elliott.

Little works here. The staging and design of the show distract from, and in fact often undermine, Hampton’s script. Drab period costuming is blended with a bizarre attempt at minimalism that strips away much of the interior and replaces it with large mirrors that line the back wall like a dance studio. Every design decision is dichotomous with another, which creates a sense that Elliott, whose work in the last decade on shows like Angels in America and Company has been spectacular, has no real grip on what this particular show is meant to be and what she wants this take on the material to say.

It all feels shapeless and unfinished, which is also evident in the performances. Manville is prickly and uneven, with a take on Madame de Murteuil that is neither devious nor camp enough. There are flickers of magic when she and Aidan Turner are alone together on stage, and the two of them have a disappointingly underutilised chemistry, but she, much like the production itself, often appears lost and aimless. Turner is fine but, alas, “fine” isn't enough to sell his character's exploitative wickedness, and so he too is left floundering, grasping at nothing on a stage that is much too large and open for a text as intimate and interpersonal as this. Barbarro, who was excellent in A Complete Unknown, is likewise unable to capture anything concrete or tangible in her character, again because she hasn’t been directed effectively.

It’s rare that a show boasting such talent both on and off stage flubs things quite like this but Les Liaisons Dangereuses is a major disappointment. Were it shorter or kitschier it might have at least been more entertaining but there’s a dull seriousness to it all that just exacerbates how sterile it is. Given how sexually charged so much of the narrative is, and given how charismatic and, let’s be real, hot the cast is, it’s extraordinary how little energy and vitality this production has, with everyone trundling around a vast, barren stage desperately trying, and only rarely succeeding, to inject some passion into it.

Save yourself the decision as to whether to take a photo at the end by skipping this entirely.

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Score: ⭐⭐