Customer Reviews

A brilliant play about sex, love, and the differences between the two - By: Jack Barnes, 22 Aug 2004
This is an intriguing drama, which involves ten different characters (five male, five female), & the sexual games they playin turn-of-the-century Vienna.

It takes the form of ten duologues, opening with a seduction scene between 'the prostitute' & 'the soldier'. They flirt, argue, lie, & finally have sex. The scene ends there, & the following is between the soldier & 'the chambermaid', who isin turn seduced by the soldier. She goes on to seduce the 'young gentleman'in the next scene; he seduces 'the young wife'...etc. The play goes roundin a 'sexual merry-go-round' until we eventually meet the prostitute again.

It is a story of sexual promiscuity, about the 'facade' of seduction, & the danger of confusing sex with love. It also presents an interesting idea about the nature of sex: that it is sex, not death, that is the great 'leveller' - this is a play where chambermaids sleep with gentlemen, prostitutes with counts.

It is also, of course, brilliantly funny, sharply observed, & always pacey drama.