Preview-Venus in Fur-Sweet & Sour Productions
18-11-13
By: Karen Cheung
Venus in Fur, written by David Ives, has generated somewhat of a buzz on (and off) Broadway since its 2010 premiere, earning itself widespread acclamation, a Tony nomination for Best Play , and even a film adaptation by Roman Polanski. Now, here in Hong Kong, director Candice Moore of Sweet and Sour Productions brings you this two-person one-act play on the battle of the sexes, featuring Andrew Swift as Thomas, an up-and-coming director who’s decided it would be a good idea to adapt a 19th century sado-masochism play – “Venus in Fur” – and Muriel Hoffman as Vanda, a mysterious woman who barges in on the director without an appointment, but with a bag of kinky S&M gear.
The narrative glides from the 19th century to the modern-day world, evoking timeless questions on, as Muriel puts it, the power play of male & female dynamics, and gender roles generally. “For me the play is about exploring the evolution of the female sex – where it’s at, where it’s been, how far it’s come – where the need between domination and submission plays out – it doesn’t necessarily have to be on the physical plane, but also the intellectual. It ‘strips out’ the actual situation – like a transmutation. The script of Venus in Fur is basically about how S&M-ers essentially believe men and women are mortal enemies... To come to a common ground and develop a mutual relationship through love, one has to battle the other to find a sense of hierarchy and order…. That’s kind of what happens in the play.”
It seems the play-within-a-play element, with its two settings, also allows an insight as to whether or not these gender relations have changed at all – or, as Andrew adds, “the two plays start off at different points but ultimately it’s really the same play.”
Some of the most interesting and challenging aspects of staging Venus in Fur (say the Sweet and Sour team) arise from this very play-within-a-play and auditioning context. As Candice puts it, “I love the beginning of the play – the director spends the day auditioning 35 actresses for one role, and nobody’s right, and he’s on the phone with his fiancée. He goes on about how they’re too old, too young, they’re this and that – I’m sure a lot of directors can relate to that. And she [Vanda] comes in, breaks all the rules of an audition, and sort of takes control. As a director I haven’t seen that in an audition yet – and I have seen a lot of things in auditions - so I like that.”
Andrew also admits that the dual play structure poses a challenge: “if you’re in a Shakespeare play or a period play you can sort of put yourself in that set of mind where you’re talking in that flowery language, but here we’re constantly changing from the way we’re speaking now to an embellished language.” Andrew notes, though, that this storyline built around the auditioning process should be an interesting experience for the audience, let in on both perspectives: the anxiety of the auditonee and the frustrations of the auditioner.
Aside from gender, Venus in Fur also plays with notions of art. “The most interesting part for me is the way art and life intertwine so closely, which is what this play really explores – it does it in a very direct way,” says Andrew. While Vanda claims that the play is really porn, Thomas insists that it is a ‘classical text’. “A lot of what defines [Thomas] as a character is him defending his work, which is kind of what we all find ourselves doing sometimes. As an artist you’re faced with so much criticism all the time, and you build up this defence mechanism – we all do, and we try to tame it, but we end up being obnoxious sometimes. You don’t want to come off as arrogant, but you care about what you do…and that for me is something that I can relate to.”
So, why Venus in Fur?
Candice: “It’s exciting, it’s well-written, it’s clever – it’s a sexy-smart comedy. Muriel takes her clothes off, and Andrew doesn’t, so that’s good too.”
Andrew:“It’s a decent script, and the play says something different to everyone in the audience; there’s no hard and fast conclusion, and everyone takes away something different. I don’t think you can say that about a lot of plays.”
The play itself definitely isn’t just targeted at those interested in S&M – in fact, Candice thinks that the S&M community may find it a bit light. At the end of the day, however, behind the curtain of sex, S&M is really about power and gender, which is why the play has the potential to attract a wide range of audiences.
It certainly isn’t for anyone under 16, given the explicit adult content and strong language. The team threw in a preview of the first couple of minutes of the play for me, and while I haven’t reached the part of the play where I find out how Vanda persuades Thomas to let the audition go on for another hour and a half, their opening performance – especially the rapid-fire delivery of the script – certainly got me hooked enough to want to know more.
Tickets for this production are 240hkd with additional discounts for students, seniors, and Fringe Club members. They are now on sale at all HK Ticketing outlets.
Performances of Venus in Fur will be at the Fringe Underground Theatre, from Thursday, December 12th to Saturday December 14th at 8pm with a matinee at 3pm on Saturday, December 14th. For more information, you can click here.
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