Les Liaisons Dangereuses (play)

Les liaisons dangereuses
Poster for the 2008 Roundabout Theatre Company production
Written byChristopher Hampton
Date premiered24 September 1985
Place premieredThe Other Place
Stratford-upon-Avon
Original languageEnglish
SubjectA tale of seduction, revenge, and human malice
GenreDrama
SettingVarious salons and boudoirs in hotels and châteaux in and around Paris and the Bois de Vincennes during an autumn and winter in the late 1780s

Les Liaisons dangereuses (French: [le ljɛzɔ̃ dɑ̃ʒ(ə)ʁøz]) is a 1985 play by Christopher Hampton adapted from the 1782 novel of the same title by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The plot focuses on the Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont, rivals who use sex as a weapon of humiliation and degradation, all the while enjoying their cruel games. Their targets are the virtuous (and married) Madame de Tourvel and Cécile de Volanges, a young girl who has fallen in love with her music tutor, the Chevalier Danceny. In order to gain their trust, Merteuil and Valmont pretend to help the secret lovers so they can use them later in their own treacherous schemes.