Flock Theatre refers to it as "the Valentine's Day slot." It's the time around that holiday that the New London-based theater group stages a performance.

This year's choice is not your average, conventional love story. It's the Christopher Hampton play "Les Liaisons Dangereuses."

Derron Wood, Flock's artistic director who is directing the production, says it is a love story - "but none of the loves come out the right way."

"The reason I like it for Valentine's Day is it's one of those things that is more about the intrigue of relationships and the wanting of love," he says. "There's a lot of humor that comes out of it as well because of the way it's written. It's deliciously devilish characters who are fun to play."

The play - which was the basis for the 1988 movie "Dangerous Liaisons" starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer - was suggested by Flock actress Callie Beaulieu.

"Les Liaisons Dangereuses" is set in France during the 1700s - and will be staged in a mansion built in 1756 - the historic Shaw Mansion, which was constructed by Captain Nathaniel Shaw. Flock has been performing periodic shows since 2008's "Pride and Prejudice" in the Shaw Mansion, which is the home base of New London County Historical Society.

"We love the Shaw Mansion, and we're always looking for stuff that will fit. That house just comes alive for those plays," Wood says.

"Les Liaisons Dangereuses" - adapted from the 1782 novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos - takes place not long before the French Revolution, as a pair of aristocrats play games of seduction and destruction with unsuspecting innocents.

At the time the story is set, it wasn't common to wed out of love, Wood notes. Marriage was a financial contract.

"These people had all this power and money, yet they still had these desires of love and so they set up these things where they would have countless affairs," he says.

In this case, the characters see who they can seduce, manipulate and use. And the women in "Liaisons" outpace the men when it comes to calculating plots.

Wood says, "It's a wonderfully fun play with such incredible, dynamic characters, especially in terms of the leading women."

Beaulieu stars as the scheming Marquise de Merteuil, with Alex Kydd playing her partner in crime, Vicomte de Valmont. The characters challenge each other to entice others away from their sweethearts and spouses into illicit sexual relationships. Valmont leads the married, virtuous Madame de Tourve (played by Madeleine Dauer) astray but ends up falling for her.

The play ends with the image of a guillotine, so, Wood says, "you realize that all of these people are careening toward the French Revolution, and none of them are probably going to survive. It really does show how much the aristocracy was just so out of touch with everyone else ... People were toys to them."

Discussing casting the show, Wood says when Beaulieu auditioned with Kydd, "the two of them just played so beautifully off of each other. ... They would flip back and forth with (the characters') evilness and this joy with the evilness. Their chemistry was just brilliant."

Wood says that Dauer, who played Maggie the Cat in Flock's 2014 production of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "is just a powerhouse of an actress. So the three of them, it's like a tag-team battle royal. It really is phenomenal to watch them use the language in this play, as they go about trying to eviscerate each other or seduce each other. Then, you're always trying to figure out whether they're being honest or fake. It really is a wonderful game."

As for the sumptuous costumes, they were borrowed from the University of Rhode Island and the Williams School in New London. Flock has struck up a relationship with both schools where they loan each other costumes. And Sally Dwyer, who works at URI, serves as Flock's costumer. For this show, she made alterations and put together ensembles.

Flock and the two schools each have a strong collection of clothes for different time periods.

"It's been this wonderful sort of exchange of costuming good will. Truth be told, it saves a ton on all of our budgets," Wood says. "They know if it's Renaissance or 1600s or whatever, that we have a great suite to pull from."

"Les Liaisons Dangereuses," Shaw Mansion, 11 Blinman St., New London; previews 7 p.m. Fri. and Sat. and 2 p.m. Sun. ($30 adults, $25 students, seniors and active military); regular performances through March 1, at 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays ($35 adults, $30 students, seniors and active military); reservations required: (860) 443-3119, flocktheatre@hotmail.com.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was updated with corrected ticket prices.

'DAY' AND 'NIGHT' WITH FLOCK

Flock Theatre's 2015 season is also scheduled to include performances of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" in May and June and "Titus Andronicus" in July, and Eugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night" in August. Exact run dates will be announced later.