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PHOTOGRAPHY BY JOAN MARCUS Next! THE CASTING COUCH GETS A REAL WORKOUT IN DAVID IVES'S SIZZLING SEX COMEDY, VENUS IN FUR. BY THOMAS CONNORS R emakes rarely work. But David Ives, the ace adaptor who has worked his magic on authors ranging from Corneille to George F. Kaufman, has really steamed up Sacher-Masoch. The Austrian writer, whose penchant for pain came to define the delights of masochism, espoused his erotic ethos most famously in the 1870 work Venus in Furs. While the book remains a key text in the nonclinical literature of pyscho-sexuality, its literary pleasures pale beside the outrages of the Marquis de Sade. But Ives—whose smarts and sense of humor make him one of the most sophisti- cated voices in the American theater—has turned this turgid tome into a sexy romp, just rough enough around the edges to rattle the brain. Arguably the most seductive offering of the Goodman Theatre's spring HOTTEST TICKET continued on page 72 Hugh Dancy and Nina Arianda in the New York City production of Venus in Fur. 70 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM Culture 070-072_MA_SC_HT_Spring_14.indd 70 2/11/14 2:38 PM