Les Liaisons Dangereuses is essentially a soap opera set in late eighteenth-century France: scheming aristocrats with too much time on their hands manipulate their friends and lovers in order to further their agendas of pleasure and revenge. "Liaisons" could easily be nothing more than a frothy, cynical delight, but there is some very deft social commentary at the heart of Christopher Hampton's play. The new production by director Adriana Abdenur '97, which continues this weekend at Agassiz Theater, captures the play's thematic complexity and scathing wit.

The two most despicable (and most entertaining) characters in the play are La Marquise de Merteuil (Lucia Brawley '99) and Le Vicomte de Valmont (Bryan Leach '00). These two connivers, who are obviously meant for each other, spend much of the show trading quips. Their relationship is based on a twisted love: rather than acting on their mutual feelings, they compete against each other. Merteuil and Valmont make a wager that involves deceiving and seducing most of the other members of the cast. The problem is that they cannot avoid becoming entangled in their own web, and their game becomes dangerous and destructive.

Their pawns include La Presidente de Tourvel (Nikki Columbus '97), a virtuous married woman whom Valmont successfully seduces and then rejects. Valmont delights in corrupting virtue with sensual sinfulness. Cecile Volanges (Sara Boyle '00) and Madame de Volanges (Anna Lewis '99), who are embroiled in their own mother-daughter struggle over whether Le Chevalier Danceny (Daniel Sussner '00) is suitable marriage material for Cecile, also fall victim to Valmont and Mertueil's scheme. Madame de Rosemonde (Vanessa Reisen '97), Valmont's aunt, possesses the deepest understanding of the play's web of deceit. In a downhearted acceptance of the production's cynicism, she says that "to hope to be made happy by love is a certain cause of grief."

Leach gives an effective performance as the dastardly Valmont. Remarkably, for much of the play there is something likable, and even enviable, about his character. Brawley is also well cast as La Marquise de Mertueil, displaying her character's sinful grace as well as the heartache that has made her so hardened. The scenes with Leach and Brawley, filled with snappy retorts and romantic tensions, are especially entertaining. The rest of the cast members fill their niches well, with Anna Lewis and Vanessa Reisen giving standout performances in smaller roles.

Most of the play is a treat to watch. The capable acting is complemented by an imaginative set, which suggests the salons and bedrooms of upperclass chateaux. The period costumes are similarly impressive, and fashion reveals much about the social situation of the characters in the play. At one point, La Marquise de Mertueil remarks that La Presidente de Tourvel is a frump, with her "bodice up to her ears in case you might catch a glimpse of a square inch of flesh." The tense music and occasional operatic singing that bridges the scenes is also a nice touch, and prevents the pauses between scenes from becoming awkward.

The play's energy only slows down towards the end, when Valmont and Mertueil's scheme starts to wreak havoc in their own lives. Valmont is torn between La Presidente de Tourvel, whom he claims to have fallen in love with, and La Marquise de Mertueil, who holds considerable power over him. The sense of unspoken attachment between Leach and Brawley is perhaps too good, because this turn of events does not seem believable. There is a fatal swordfight between Valmont and Le Chevalier Danceny that continues for too long, stretching out the play's final scenes when they should be compressed to make the downfall of Valmont and Mertueil seem more instantaneous and overwhelming.

In the last scene the production recovers from its temporary lull, with Mertueil playing cards with her friends and insisting that they "continue with the game." Valmont is dead, Mertueil is alone, and the victims of their plan are left to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. It is a bleak but appropriate ending. The petty plotting of the aristocrats has destroyed any hope for happiness, but they must keep up their appearances. If such deceitful events transpired under the pretenses of a classy and restrained society, imagine what would happen if these characters really let loose!