The present paper compares Arthur Schnitzler’s ‘Liebelei’ (1895), one of his most lastingly successful plays, with Tom Stoppard’s English version ‘Dalliance’ (1986). While generally following Schnitzler’s storyline, Stoppard tries to transfer the gender conflict set in fin-desiècle Vienna to a Vienna that bears resemblance to Thatcherite London, adapting the play to the social and cultural experience of an English audience. It is shown that Stoppard’s version responds to the changed gender relations, introduces elements of comedy and slapstick and, most significantly, replaces Schnitzler’s bleak ending by a more optimistic finale. Seeing his version as an adaptation rather than a translation, Stoppard tries to assert his own artistic credo as a dramatist, making the play less subtle and more direct in its message.