Theatre review: Les Liaisons Dangereuses

A new production of Christopher Hampton's best-known play, an adaptation of a novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos at the Lyttelton, marks Marianne Elliott's first time back at the National since Angels In America. Although this, and most other elements of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, seem to have been overshadowed by Lesley Aisons Manville, who's turned out to be surprisingly camera-shy for a film star. Manville plays the Marquise de Merteuil, the most in-demand guest of 18th Century Paris aristocracy's social life. Merteuil is a widow who, comfortable in her wealth and standing, entertains herself by taking numerous lovers, as well as orchestrating affairs and scandals for others. She's particularly fond of corrupting wide-eyed innocents, but has managed to keep her activities in the shadows, and her own reputation spotless.

Theatre review: Dear England

I said a few weeks ago that the National had managed a bit of a coup by scheduling probably the two most bankable British playwrights at the moment to premiere new work at the same time in its main houses. And if it was Jack Thorne in the Lyttelton, with a play that's already announced a West End transfer, then it must be James Graham in the Olivier, with a play that's bringing in audiences that don't often come to the theatre, and seems likely to have a future life of its own as a result. Dear England is a play about football, so Rupert Goold is the obvious choice of director - I could say it's because he made his name with a dynamic, physical visual style that suits a sports story but let's face it, it's because when he took over at the Almeida he waxed lyrical about how handy his new office was for Arsenal home games, as much as anything he had to say about the theatre itself.