Schnitzler's original work, Reigen, upon which The Blue Room is based, suggested that one of the unfortunate things passed along in the "round dance" of loose sexual relations is venereal diseases. Although it is not a prominent feature of Hare's play, AIDS is the modern counterpart to this worry, and a couple of characters do express concerns about proper "hygiene." Research the most recent statistics and medical findings about the AIDS virus. How many people are now affected by this disease? What have governments and physicians been doing to combat the spread of AIDS?

Watch La Ronde, the 1950 film version of Schnitzler's work directed by Max Ophuls, and compare it with David Hare's adaptation, The Blue Room. How are the stories and characters similar? How do they differ? What is the effect of Ophuls's faithful recreation of turn-of-the-century Vienna as the setting...