An unsettling drama, a playful comedy, and an exploration of gender roles and sexuality, Venus in Fur is a witty, dark look at the art of acting―onstage and off. A young playwright, Thomas, has written an adaptation of the 1870 novel Venus in Fur by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (after whom the term “masochism” was coined); the novel is the story of an obsessive adulterous relationship between a man and the mistress to whom he becomes enslaved. At the end of a long day in which the actresses Thomas auditions fail to impress him, in walks Vanda, very late and seemingly clueless, but she convinces him to give her a chance. As they perform scenes from Thomas’s play, and Vanda the actor and Vanda the character gradually take control of the audition, the lines between writer, actor, director, and character begin to blur.    “Wildly intelligent and sometimes frightening.” ―Hilton Als, The New Yorker  “The teeter-tottering test of wills that takes place in Venus in Fur … makes even the most fraught encounter between a domineering director and a sensitive performer seem like a play date in the sandbox…Ninety minutes of good, kinky fun.”―Charles Isherwood,  New York Times  “Venus in Fur invites both carnal and cerebral excitement.” ― Village Voice “David Ives . . . has grown into a playwright of considerable consequence―which doesn’t mean that he’s lost his sense of humor. Venus in Fur . . . actually feels a bit like one of Mr. Ives’s one-act plays writ large, though it cuts much deeper, both intellectually and emotionally.”―Terry Teachout, Wall Street Journal DAVID IVES is the author of the classic evening of one-acts, All in the Timing. His other plays include Time Flies; New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza; Is He Dead? (adapted from Mark Twain); Ancient History; The Liar (adapted from Corneille); The School for Lies (adapted from Molière's The Misanthrope ); and The Heir Apparent (adapted from Regnard's Le Légataire universel) .  VENUS IN FUR A PLAY By DAVID IVES Northwestern University Press Copyright © 2011 David Ives All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-8101-2822-4 Contents Production History.........................................................ixVenus in Fur...............................................................1 CHAPTER 1 [ A clash of thunder and a burst of lightning reveal THOMAS in a hare,rented studio. End of an afternoon. A few old metal chairs. A table witha clip-on lamp and a stack of headshots. A ratty prop divan. A metalstand with a coffeemaker and some paper cups. In the middle of theroom, an iron pipe disappears into the ceiling. A fuse box hangs on awall. ] THOMAS [ pacing, into his cell phone ]: No. No. Nothing. Nobody. It'smaddening, it's a plot. There are no women like this. No youngwomen, or young- ish women. No beautiful-slash-sexy women.No sexy-slash-articulate young women with some classical trainingand a particle of brain in their skulls. Is that so much to ask?An actress who can actually pronounce the word "degradation"without a tutor? [ A roll of thunder. ] Honey—honey, in the book VANDA is 24, for God's sake. Back inthose days a woman of 24 would've been married. She'd have fivekids and tuberculosis. She'd be a woman . Most women who are 24these days sound like six-year-olds on helium. "And I was all likewhatever and he was all like, y'know, and I go like whatever andhe's like all, y'know?" No, I don't know, I don't know anythingexcept that I saw thirty-five incompetent actresses today, andeven the ones pushing retirement didn't have the stuff. Anybodywho does is either shooting a series or she isn't gonna do this fora nickel a week. And the stupidity . They bring along props, wholesacks full of costumes. And whatever happened to femininity?Bring along some of that , please. Young women can't even play feminine these days. Half are dressed like hookers, half like dykes. I'd be a better VANDA than most of these girls, all I'd have to do isput on a dress and a pair of nylons. Well, our VANDA's got to be outthere somewhere. But at this point ... [ Thunder and lightning. The lights in the room flicker. ] Hello? Hello? Honey? Honey, are you there? VANDA [ offstage ]: Knock knock knock! [VANDA enters, in steep high heels, wearing a soaked coat. She carriesan enormous bag, a purse, and a battered black umbrella. ] VANDA: Am I too late? I'm too late, right? Fuck. Fuck! THOMAS: If you're here for Venus in Fur , everybody went home halfan hour ago. VANDA: God, I'm sorry, I am so, so sorry, I got caught like way uptownand my cell went out. Then my fucking heel gets stuck in one ofthose sewer-cover-thing-whatevers. Then there's this guy on thetrain, I don't even want to tell you about him, rubbing up againstmy ass the whole trip. Then it starts to pour. I get soaked throughto the fucking skin. Fuck! Fuck! [ She throws herself in