Venus in Fur

Venus in Fur
By David Ives. The Street Theatre, Childers Street, Canberra. Directed by Caroline Stacey. 21 August – 2 September 2018

I’d be careful if I were you. When you obtain your ideal, she may be more cruel than you care for.” Playwright Thomas Novachek (Craig Alexander) has spent the day auditioning actresses for his stage adaptation of Venus in Fur, based on the classic novel on sadomasochism by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. Having rejected them all as shallow and unworldly, he’s preparing to meet his fiancée for dinner, when in bursts Vanda (Joanna Richards), crude, abrasive and assertive, two hours later than she was booked to arrive. Vanda, it transpires, has learned the entire play by heart. As they read, it seems Thomas’s own character has come to life, but unlike Pygmalion’s sculpture, this one is not content to bend to her maker’s will. Or is she really Venus come to earth to torture Thomas for fun?

Joanna Richards is captivating, snapping instantaneously between the roles of the brash but intelligent actress Vanda with a Bronx accent, and the character Vanda von Dunayev with a Russian accent. As Dunayev she’s reserved and haughty, while actress Vanda is flirty to start with, becoming more dominant and manipulative as the play progresses and their characters merge. Craig Alexander as playwright Novachek scrabbles to maintain creative and real control of the play, gradually losing himself to the more intelligent, dominant character. The play moves through beautifully timed emotional crescendos followed by crushing, tense silences, balancing rage and humiliation with desire in a battle for dominance. This play toys with the balance of power in a relationship: how an ostensibly weaker partner might be controlling the other, and how the balance can change. At any stage it can be difficult to tell who is in power—is it the dominator, or is the submissive driving the action? Are we seeing sexuality, abuse or a mix of both?

The set is beautiful and unnerving, reminiscent of Georgio de Chirico’s art, featuring a concrete wall with dappled blue shadows, a grid of headshots and a mounted ram’s head, a chaise longue and animal skins. The varyingly stark white and muted rich warm lighting, along with a dramatic sound design with lightning effects, complete the unsettling mood.

Again, Ms Stacey and The Street have created a fascinating, well-crafted surreal thriller.

Cathy Bannister

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