What made Arthur Schnitzler's 1896-97 (not staged until 1921) round of sexual sketches history-making were its explicitness and dramatizations of Freudian findings. With his updated full circle of couplings, moved from Vienna to New York, David Hare says nothing new about their psychology or any other phase of the human condition. Nor does he shock. About all I can figure of the play's box office success in NYC and London is that audiences wanted a glimpse of Nicole Kidman nude.
Preventing any of the acting students from baring all seems to have been the top challenge of FSU/Asolo Conservatory production, and it's met—barely (ahem!)—by all ten of them, enjoying two scenes each in a play usually performed by only two actors. From the prostitute simply called "The Girl" to male Student to Actress and Aristocrat, the actors acquit themselves convincingly and about equally well. Heather Corwin stands out, however, as the forward Married Woman, whereas Merideth Maddox needs more work on her French accent as the Au Pair. Changing paintings and other backdrops along with furniture to shift scenes prolongs the boredom of being locked in a room, intermisson-less...and blue."
