I’m itching to catch Brooklyn Academy of Music’s production of “Quartett”, just on the strength of this theater review. Specifically this bit, which expounds upon a stage setting that’s a cross between “a drawing room before the French Revolution” and “an air raid shelter after World War III”:

This befits a work that seems to take place in the shadow of a crypt. As written, the play has only two characters, Merteuil and Valmont, who remember romantic war games of yore in anatomically unstinting detail. In recollecting past conquests — notably those of the virtuous Madame de Tourvel and the virginal Cécile de Volanges by Valmont — they act out the seductions, with Merteuil often playing Valmont. The language — French in this case, with English supertitles — is often poetic, ritualistic, even ecclesiastical, but with an abiding awareness that whatever pleasures the flesh may afford, it is destined to rot. The decadence practiced by these aristocrats is rooted in the consciousness of decay.

I’m a pure sucker for experimental theater. The unique lighting techniques — Valmont is bathed in a demonic red spotlight, while the scheming Merteuil shines with an icy white glow — are another enticement. Sounds like a visual stunner befitting a post-modernist adaptation of “Dangerous Liaisons”.

Unfortunately, it looks like tickets are sold out. Too bad I don’t have any inside connections at BAM.