We’ve been to the theatre again – twice in a few weeks – so we’re now officially theatre buffs. Our latest outing was to the Theatre Royal Backspace Theatre for Venus in Fur.
Venus in Fur by David Ives is the first production from newly launched local theatre company, Loud Mouth Theatre Co. The company’s three co-artistic directors, Maeve MacGregor, Katie Robertson and Campbell McKenzie are director and leads respectively in a two-handed piece based on the 1870 German language novella Venus in Furs. The latter was penned by Austrian author, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch – from whose name the term masochism was derived.
And therein lies the first, most obvious, clue for those wondering about the play’s subject matter.
The play debuted off-Broadway in 2010, and has played on Broadway and in numerous productions world-wide since then. It has garnered much praise and earned awards for those portraying the two leads, particularly the female lead, in various productions. A real-time French language film version of the play directed by Roman Polanski was released in 2012.
Briefly, Venus in Fur is an extended interaction between a tightly wound playwright, Thomas Novachek, and a brassy, seemingly low-brow, wannabe actress, Wanda Jordan. Thomas has just finished a series of disastrous auditions for the female lead in his new play when Wanda arrives, late and loud, to read for the part. Thomas is reluctant, but Wanda is maddeningly insistent, supporting her cause with the revelation of a very fetching dominatrix outfit underneath her winter coat and a bag full of appropriate costumes.
Venus in Fur is essentially a play within a play, and uses this meta-theatrical device (I told you we were theatre buffs) with style, intertwining the unfolding relationship between Thomas and Wanda with that of the fictional play’s two protagonists.
Once Wanda convinces Thomas to read with her, the dialogue moves to a rapid-fire interplay between their conversation and that of the play’s characters, the articulate and aristocratic Vanda Dunayev and Severin Kushemski, a man with a hankering for women in fur and an apparently insatiable need to be dominated – whipped, punished, and degraded in the truest sado-masochist style.
The performances are entirely engaging, with confident use of American accents for Wanda and Thomas and a brilliant Eastern European take on the character of Severin – like a very polished, up-market Borat.
Scenery is spare, with the only meaningful prop an ‘antique’ chaise longue, and the no-gaps dialogue is only occasionally, momentarily, interrupted by mood enhancing thunder, complete with flickering lights, setting up a deliberately electrified atmosphere.
This atmosphere is mirrored in the play’s dialogue, with Severin’s early entreaty to Vanda – that she play the role of mistress to his slave – slowly accelerating towards a deliberately ambiguous exploration of the roles of men and women in life and love and sex. Are men the dominators, or are women, or are both fighting for supremacy in a never-ending conflict? Is the ‘battle of the sexes’ more than just a trite, pop psychology throwaway line? Is there a real, down and dirty fight going on out there?
There’s more than a smattering of bad language and innuendo, but the dialogue maintains a finely drawn position, hovering tantalisingly above tawdry smut, and never crossing the line. The end result is a restrained, cerebral erotica that ideally suits the play’s complex, challenging themes. Given the material, there would be a temptation to play up the titillation with more overt physical contact between the man and woman, and a more sensual rhythm in the dialogue, but Ms MacGregor’s assured direction never loses sight of the bigger picture – laying bare the age-old antithesis between male and female, and asking, ‘Why is it so?’
At the play’s close, I indulged in a brief discussion of its meaning with one of my theatre companions – a fellow middle-aged rabid feminist. We were momentarily unsure, and will probably nut it out over several future conversations.
And isn’t that the hallmark of a successful theatre production. One that satisfies the immediate need for entertainment but doesn’t turn into mental ephemera and vanish from consciousness at its close. One that provokes further contemplation of its words, expressions and actions for some time to come.
Venus in Fur is such a production, and highly recommended.
Venus in Fur is playing at the Theatre Royal Backspace Theatre until Saturday 10 May
Bronwyn Williams
