Theatre in Review: Venus in Fur (Manhattan Theatre Club/Samuel J. Friedman Theatre)

	Hugh Dancy. Photo: Joan Marcus

Things certainly do move quickly these days. It was only two years ago that Nina Arianda began her ascension to star status, and she's already reviving her greatest hits. Having made a big splash Off Broadway and barreled her way through a couple of films and an acclaimed Broadway debut, she's back in Venus in Fur, the play that, in its initial staging at Classic Stage Company, brought her to the stunned attention of the New York theatre community.

And, yes, if you didn't catch David Ives' black comedy Off Broadway, everything you've heard is true -- Arianda is a now a name to contend with -- but more about her in a moment; in some ways, the real hero of the much-improved Broadway version is her co-star, Hugh Dancy, who -- line for line and nuance for nuance -- is more than a match for his formidable leading lady.

A fierce, tough-minded playwright and director, Dancy's Thomas is exactly the sort of rehearsal-room tyrant who regularly reduces young actresses to masses of quivering Jell-O. When we first meet him, he is frazzled to the core, having spent an entire day auditioning women for the lead in his adaptation of the Leopold von Sacher-Masoch novel. (See the play's title.) An actress with the right womanly qualities has proved elusive; as he complains in a phone call to his fiancée, "Most 24-year-olds today sound like six-year-olds on helium." Confronted with the ditzy, motor-mouthed Vanda, who shows up hours late for an audition for which she has no appointment, and who immediately launches into a barely intelligible rant about the weather, the subways, and male molesters, he asks, politely, yet icily, "Can I run out and refill any prescriptions for you?"

And yet, when this professional birdbrain slips, with head-snapping speed and skill, into the role of a 19th-century lady of breeding with dominatrix tendencies, Thomas' engagement with her grows by leaps and bounds. Even when the audition turns into an all-too-revealing psychological game of cat and mouse, Dancy reveals layer after layer of anger, fear, and erotic fascination. His predecessor, Wes Bentley, took a more passive approach, letting Arianda hijack the proceedings to some extent. What was originally the pyrotechnic display of an unknown actress' technical skills is now a fully joined battle between equals. This is all to the good: Venus in Fur is a sex comedy, a spoof of the theatre, and a psychological thriller rolled into one, blending laughter and chills in a way not seen since the heyday of Sleuth and Deathtrap. It needs two fully formed performances to take part in its tango of pain and pleasure, and here it has just that.

If anything, Arianda seems inspired by her co-star, finding new levels of mystery and mastery in Vanda. She comes on a little too strong at first, resulting in a certain shrillness, even as she gets all of her laughs. ("You don't have to tell me about sadomasochism - I'm in the theatre!") Even so, it's all the more stunning when she slips into character, achieving a mysteriously authoritative performance after having apparently perused Thomas' script only once. There's a palpable feeling of electricity between her and Dancy as they bring the play to life, fighting for dominance of the story with each twist and turn. Arianda's inexperience shows here and there -- in the latter third of the play, she pushes her voice mercilessly -- but with a debut like this, there's no telling what she can do.

Walter Bobbie's direction -- which was perfectly fine Off Broadway -- has a snap and underlying sense of menace that keeps us engaged until the very last second. Having found two actors who are more than up to the demands of this emotional workout, he orchestrates their work brilliantly, building tension and suspense, planting surprise laughs, and keeping us guessing until the last second -- and beyond. (The ending, which once seemed like an easy, Twilight Zone shocker, now seems like the only possible outcome. However, for all that it seems to resolve matters, it leaves one with a teasing sense of ambiguity.) Whatever happens, it appears that Vanda and Thomas are made for each other -- whether it's a match made in heaven or hell, I will leave up to you.

Once again, Venus in Fur benefits from a perfectly polished physical production. This is the second set of the season that John Lee Beatty, in moving a show from Off Broadway, has had to reconfigure for a proscenium stage. (He did the same with Other Desert Cities.) If anything, the design gains from being turned into a box setting -- the addition of a mirror covering the stage right wall, which is revealed at exactly the right moment, is an especially canny touch. Peter Kaczorowski's superbly detailed lighting scheme -- working with a set that has a full ceiling, he blends overhead fluorescent units, stage lighting gear built into the set, and window patterns on the upstage wall -- enlivens what could have been a routine job. The Acme Sound Partners team works with him to create some ominous thunderstorm effects. Anita Yavich's costumes include Vanda's tacky dominatrix outfit and the many period items that she pulls out of her shopping bag.

For all its witty, literate dialogue, its seductive mystery, and its creeping sense of menace, Venus in Fur needs two strong, committed performers if it is to work. Thanks to Arianda and Dancy, Ives has been blessed with a nearly ideal cast. --David Barbour