As makers of taste they are without peer. As beings of wit and panache they are without exception. As creatures of debauchery they are without equal.

The Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont are bored. They have seduced whom they wanted and ruined dozens of reputations. Why? To pass the time and, frankly, because they can. They are dangerous to know and only open their mouths when they have first calculated how much damage they can do.

But their lives of supreme self-indulgence are about to fall apart. At risk is their social standing, their integrity, even their lives... because one of them is about to fall in love.

Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ eighteenth century satirical novel, expertly adapted for the stage by Christopher Hampton, has lost none of its power and bite. Its depiction of a society lost in itself and about to be cleansed by the French revolution is one of the great cautionary tales of all time. It warns that, in spite of a sumptuous surface, things can be rotten underneath. 

Make sure that those who smile at you are your friends.