How does a play that centers around S&M find its way onto the stage of the South's most preeminent arts festival?
It's a simpler and more disappointing answer than you might expect.
Charleston, S.C. is home to one of the première performing arts festivals in the world--Spoleto Festival USA. Founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, it was meant to serve as the American counterpart to the famous Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy.
In 1979, a companion fest was created called Piccolo Spoleto. Whereas Spoleto proper was to focus on national and international artists, Piccolo Spoleto would showcase local and regional acts.
In recent years, Piccolo Spoleto has grown by leaps and bounds. From May 24 to June 9, 2013, Piccolo's 700 events are expected to draw more than 180,000 attendees to the Lowcountry.
Now, the art at Piccolo is still as traditional as one might imagine: well-worn classical music, jazz standards, folk art, perhaps a tribal dance troupe or two. Among all of this safe programming, however, there seemed to be one standout--Threshold Rep's Venus in Fur, a theatrical adaptation of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's kinktastic Venus in Furs. Plural.
To be fair, pop culture has long been enamored with this tale. At least seven different films have broached the subject, altering factors like time and locale to make it more (or less) relevant.
Most recently, Roman Polanski directed a film that is based on the play that's based on the novella that was Sacher-Masoch's life.
Venus in Furs, first published in 1870, is nothing short of a dom's dream. Actually, the term "masochism" comes from the author's hyphenate name: von Sacher-Masoch.
In December of 1869, Sacher-Masoch signed a contract making him a slave to his mistress, Baroness Fanny Pistor. Their contract, which lasted 6 months, included a certain, well, ermine clause.
Pistor was to wear furs when she was in a particularly "cruel mood."
Today, Sacher-Masoch's work/life proves more entertaining than taboo. So, it is no surprise that David Ives' Tony-winning play, Venus in Fur, has, itself, become a popular stage work.
So popular, in fact, that it's finally made its way onto the lineup of Piccolo Spoleto.
In a hot, cramped theater in downtown Charleston, patrons were funneled into the dark--no assigned seats, no specific curtain, no real set.
Throughout Venus in Fur, there are only two actors on stage. And like most of the beer supposedly for sale, this performance was completely sold out.
Muddled. Minimalist. Masochistic.
Laurens Wilson played "Thomas," the disenchanted director who fears he'll never find his starlet. And Katie Holland delivered a solid performance as "Vanda," an actress who shows up late just to prove she's the only woman for the part.
What appears to be a simple casting call soon turns into something else entirely, though, as Venus in Fur becomes a 90-minute discourse centering around the power struggle that exists within every relationship.
At first, it is Wilson's Thomas who plays the dominant. But eventually, and enthusiastically, he submits to the goddess that is Holland's Vanda--ending things as they began with a director all tied up.
The journey is a fun, if predictable, one. But that's not because the actors failed to deliver or the director lacked vision; it's the script.
David Ives merely flirts with an idea of S&M here, failing to embrace it the way we know Sacher-Masoch did. If he succeeds at all, it's in diluting Sacher-Masoch until he's palatable enough for those that think Fifty Shades of Grey is still subversive.
Venus in Fur is a light, often comedic romp through subject matter that, if it's going to be discussed, should be covered fully, even if it's uncomfortable...especially if it's uncomfortable.
This is not a piece of theater that will leave you breathless, or even shocked. But it is a play you can see comfortably while sitting next to your mom.
And in the end, that's how it wound up in Charleston--not by breaking down barriers and shoving 'em, unapologetically, down your throat, but by watering things down so much that even your grandma could swallow.
Ultimately, Venus in Fur--singular--left this reviewer feeling neither vulnerable, nor in control.
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