Sweet Nothings

When Tom Stoppard adapted Liebelei, he called it Dalliance . In David Harrower's new version, Arthur Schnitzler's 1895 play becomes Sweet Nothings . Which is pretty much what you get in this evocative but listless production by the esteemed Swiss director Luc Bondy. Adulterous liaisons, doomed romance, suicidal despair, the death of youth are delivered casually on an imperceptibly revolving stage from which characters sometimes drop, as if falling off a manège à trois. The boots and bias cuts are lovely. Hayley Carmichael, stern in big black shoes, is at last given a chance to show she's as expressive vocally as physically, providing the finest sarky moment with a roll of her eye and a cleverly pointed line; Natalie Dormer is lissome as a dirty, delightful gadabout, pushing aside an entire chess game in order to put down her hat. But despite its acute moments, this is an evening not of decadence but of desultory discordance.