by David Ives (Author)
Enigmatic actress Vanda Jordan appears unannounced for an audition with director Thomas Novachek. She's determined to land the leading role in his new production - despite seeming wrong for the part. The director is weary of auditioning a string of other actors, but agrees to see her, and is drawn quickly in to her act.
As Novachek reads the lines of the male character in his play - Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the Austrian author who gave his name to masochism - it becomes a play within a play. The audience is caught between what is 'real' and what is 'acted'.
Venus in Fur is an intoxicating dark comedy of desire, fantasy and the innate love of fur. 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 acting-onstage and off.
Venus in Fur has been produced all over America and all over the world, and was turned into a film by Roman Polanski that premiered in Cgender annes in 2013.