Venus in Fur - Haymarket

Oh, I thought he was really rather lovely in 'Victoria'.

True! Watching shows with him is like "oh, here comes David... someone will get tortured/raped/dismembered...".
He has a great stage presence though. I loved his tongue-in-cheek Marlowe in "Shakespeare in Love" a few years back.

True! Watching shows with him is like "oh, here comes David... someone will get tortured/raped/dismembered...".
He has a great stage presence though. I loved his tongue-in-cheek Marlowe in "Shakespeare in Love" a few years back. [/quote]

Now that doesn't bode well for series 2 of Victoria.

He was! He played George, Duke of Clarence - not quite evil, more of the tin foil hat troupe!

"In 1972, a crack commando was sent to prison by a military court for a crime he didn't commit. This man promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government he survives as a soldier of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find him....maybe you can hire @theatremonkey."

Thanks for that, I hadn't realised there were some bargain seats for this!

I had dress circle G4 for The Goat - it was sold at second price for that one, so £15 is a bargain. The view was fine, missing a tiny bit of the side of the stage, although I did have a problem with a tall guy sitting in front of me so had to duck my head about. I sat near the back of the stalls (row R) for Death of a Salesman and near the back for the Libertine (can't remember the row) - again, view was fine if distant. Both options would be great value for £15 I think!

On the other hand, really doesn't seem to be selling well at all so other options may become available later.

I won the lottery, row P of the stalls... I'm glad that for once I won't sit in the excruciating front row of this chamber of torture. Will report back

In a ramshackle rehearsal room on a stormy night in Manhattan, auditions for a stage adaptation of the Sacher-Masoch novel Venus in Fur have concluded. The adaptor/director, Thomas, is unhappy. He can't find his leading lady. But then, through the skylight comes a sudden flash of lightning and there she is - a final candidate. Her name is Vanda, coincidentally (or not) the name of the character in the play. She has brought costumes. She seems to have memorized the script - but how did she get the script?

The moment of mystery is subverted as soon as she opens her mouth. Despite her dramatic entrance, it turns out she's a ditzy wanna-be actress with a thick New Yawk accent and Thomas wants no part of her. But she's persistent and tough and when she speaks the lines from the script her voice and everything else about her transforms. And it's not long before an audition scene becomes a complete read through and things begin to change on both levels. The relationships of the play bleed into the relationships in the room and vice versa. A play about private domination and submission graduates into a power struggle between genders.

If it sounds ominous and heavy, it's not. David Ives is a wonderful writer and he keeps things just light enough. It's very funny and, to me at least, intensely intriguing. The supernatural element never quite goes away because Vanda herself remains unclassifiable. And Patrick Marber - whom I'm beginning to think is a better director than playwright - provides a clear and inventive production. Rob Howell's set is sensational.

Then there's the cast. David Oakes is very good as Thomas, pompous and defensive at first but metamorphosing under Vanda's spell into something quite different.  And Natalie Dormer?  It's her play and she takes full charge of it. Whether as the cynical fast-talking New Yawker or as the elegant seductress/dominatrix of the Sacher-Masoch world she fully commands the stage. She has both Thomas and us in the palm of her hand. Of course it doesn't hurt that she looks stunningly hot in her black leather basque and heels, her blonde mane cascading. I was sitting in the front row and to say I was transfixed by her would be a severe understatement.

Actually, I'm hoping that my visceral response to Ms Dormer has not affected my view of the play. I don't think so. I think it's as good as it seemed to be. The audience was certainly with me. There was a huge collective roar of appreciation at the curtain call.

Final verdict: loved it. LOVED her.

Just back from this. Can only echo mallardo‘s words - great stuff and Natalie Dormer gives the performance of a lifetime. Theatre seemed pretty full, too and the audience ate it up.

I saw it a couple of days ago and I liked it. Strong beginning, it lingers a bit when you see where it's going, not very subtle in its aim, but absolutely enjoyable. The set is wonderful, I was expecting them to start singing the last act of La bohème at any minute. Dormer is brilliant, the best performance of her career so far and a real star-turn performance (if she weren't one already). She's truly fantastic in this, I hope she will do more stage work soon.

It's brilliant. Wonderfully acted, sexy, fast-paced, very funny and bitter at times (in light of recent Weinstein news...). Natalie Dormer is absolutely delightful and charismatic - I must confess I didn't expect such a powerful performance. Oakes is also great - television's favourite villain/nasty brother he may be, but he's a fab comedy actor (and a strikingly beautiful creature, obviously). That said, some people in the audience giggled when he (well, his character) said "I am Borgia".

In short - I loved it.

As much as i hate to ask, has anyone been to the stage door? wouldnt usually bit tempted with this cast