He uses the rear end of a harlot as a writing desk, violently ravishes innocents, and drives the woman he loves to ruin and death. The arch seducer Valmont is certainly bad and dangerous to know in this new adaptation of the Laclos classic from Northern Ballet Theatre.
American Jimmy Orrante, for whom artistic director David Nixon created the role, is a charismatic addition to the company, his Vicomte dashing yet predatory.
Set to Vivaldi concerti, with much use of The Four Seasons, action centres on a series of dramatic pas de deux for the different liaisons Nixon has come up with, with the old Marquise de Merteuil looking back on her misdeeds as if on trial. A voice - God? Conscience? - interrogates her as she conjures up the past. Actress Patricia Doyle, in bonnet and crinoline, narrates, interacting with the dancers throughout. But it's a questionable device. Surely dance should speak for itself?
There are more mixed doubles than Wimbledon, but apart from Orrante's often spectacular duos with his conquests, that dangerous frisson is missing and parts of the first act are like a comedy of manners. Natalie Leftwich's Marquise is controlled and devious, but lacks the sadistic glee of Glenn Close in the film. However, there's cruelty in her treatment of the deflowered Cecile, painting on a clown's smile but revelling in the girl's misery.
Tall and willowy, Leftwich dances impeccably. Her staccato solo, when she realises her lascivious accomplice has fallen in love with his victim, is full of tight gestures and suppressed, volcanic anger; and there are tender moments for Chiaki Nagao as Madame de Volanges, Valmont's nemesis. Nixon creates some beautiful interplay between predator and prey, with a spectacular one-handed lift as she is conquered, hoist up in arabesque like a prize. Excellent choreography. Shame about the set. Surely a challenge for Changing Rooms?
