A young playwright Thomas has written an adaptation of the 1870 novel Venus in Fur by Leopold von SacherMasoch 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 Thomass 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. Vanda is acting . . . or perhaps she sees in Thomas a masochist one who desires fantasy in real life while writing fantasies for a living. An exploration of gender roles and sexuality in which desire twists and turns in on itself Venus in Fur is also a witty unsettling look at the art of actingonstage and off. show more