Venus in Fur review: Natalie Dormer’s show is silly rather than sexy

The Game of Thrones star brings fire to her role, but can't quite save the production
Fit fur purpose: Natalie Dormer stars in Venus in Fur
Alastair Muir
Fiona Mountford30 November 2017

Like all of us, the West End enjoys a thrill from time to time, which explains the arrival from the US of David Ives’s rather odd 90-minute two-hander about power-play and S&M.

In its favour, it has classy casting in the form of Natalie Dormer, best known as Margaery Tyrell in Game Of Thrones, and David Oakes, on TV screens as the rakish Prince Ernest in Victoria. Working against it is the awkward fact that too often it seems silly rather than sexy.

In these shaky post-Weinstein days, there are a few mighty uneasy moments at the start as theatre director Thomas (Oakes) laments the lack of “beautiful-slash-sexy women” auditioning for him. Is this an example of the worst dramatic timing ever? Thankfully — on every possible level — it’s not, as actress Vanda (Dormer) arrives unscheduled and begs/demands an audition.

Thomas, you see, is adapting for the stage Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s (the inspiration for the term masochism) 1870 novella about male submission and female domination. Thomas thinks Vanda is entirely wrong for the part, but she’s persuasive, seems to know a lot of the lines and has brought an impressive bag of props.

Soon, dressed in a leather bodice, black lacy stockings and stilettos, she’s reading the part, while Thomas takes the other. The boundary between life and art quickly begins to blur, while some rather symbolic thunder pounds outside. This is not, I must stress, nearly as alluring as it sounds, as Patrick Marber’s production, looking rather stranded on a too-large stage, misses some beats in the occasionally unclear script. Who is Vanda, really? And will we still care by the end?

Natalie Dormer - in pictures

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Dormer goes at this at full tilt, giving a confident, sensuous and intriguing performance. Oakes is more withdrawn and doesn’t quite match her, which doesn’t help the production dynamic. Still, it’s always a pleasure to see an actress giving a male director the run-around.

Until December 9 (020 7930 8800, VenusOnStage.com)

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