London’s National Theatre opened its most anticipated production of the spring season last weekend, and if the early reception is anything to go by, finding a ticket between now and June is going to require either quick reflexes or considerable flexibility. Les Liaisons Dangereuses, directed by Marianne Elliott, opened at the Lyttelton Theatre on March 21 and plays through June 6 — a strictly limited eleven-week run.
The production stars Lesley Manville as the calculating Marquise de Merteuil and Aidan Turner as the seductive Vicomte de Valmont. Monica Barbaro, best known to film audiences from Top Gun: Maverick, plays Madame de Tourvel in what represents a significant London stage debut.
The source material is Christopher Hampton’s landmark adaptation of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ 1782 epistolary novel — a work that has never quite left the cultural conversation since Hampton first staged it in 1985. His script is dark, psychologically precise, and built on the kind of razor-sharp dialogue that rewards performers who can carry both wit and menace simultaneously.
Elliott has not directed at the National Theatre in nine years. Her return, announced in the early season planning, immediately elevated this production above the surrounding competition for attention.
The subject matter — two former lovers weaponising seduction and manipulation among the pre-revolutionary French aristocracy — is the sort of material that rarely ages. If anything, the current cultural moment, saturated with conversations about power and performance, gives it additional currency.
Early reviews have focused on Manville’s work in particular. Her Merteuil is being described as an exercise in controlled menace — a woman whose intelligence is simultaneously the most dangerous and most tragic thing about her. Turner, better known for period television roles, has apparently quieted any scepticism about the casting.
The National Theatre Live version will be screened in cinemas from June 25, giving audiences across the UK and internationally a chance to see the production after the run closes. That distribution model has consistently expanded the theatre’s reach, and Les Liaisons Dangereuses is exactly the kind of prestige production that translates well to screen.
Tickets for most performances remain available, though weekend slots are filling fastest. The 6.30pm start times on selected evenings are worth noting for those planning around travel or dinner. Booking through the National Theatre’s own site avoids the per-transaction fee that applies to phone bookings from April 1.
For anyone making a cultural case for London in March 2026, this production sits at the top of almost every shortlist. The combination of cast, director, and material is the kind that only occasionally comes together, and only at a building like this.