Reader Reviews
The Shape of Things (Almeida at King's Cross, Inner London)
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 | Postscript to the above: for in the review above, please read '-'. What was formatted in MS Word didn't transcribe here. Apologies for any annoyance or confusion. fc - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 07 Jul 01 |
| About to deface a sculpture in a university museum, an art student is challenged by the student-guard who, attracted to her, ignores her vandalism as a valid artistic protest when she protests that a statue of God has been ‘defaced’ by the addition of a fig leaf. Their encounter develops into a relationship in which, in the guise of loving him, Evelyn encourages Adam to change his weight, his physical appearance, his fashion sense, his nose and his friends. Not bad for a financially hard-up student working in his spare time to pay his way through college. Unknown to him, however, he is the subject of Evelyn’s graduation piece an art installation documenting his transformation. Although a compelling thesis, Neil LaBute doesn’t entirely succeed with the fig leaf he attempts to pull over our eyes: until Evelyn’s surprising disclosure of what she has been up to at her installation, this is little more than a varsity date-drama of indie movies with an intellectual gloss. Paul Rudd grounds the victim, Adam, with a truthful performance but as director, LaBute gave insufficient help to Rachel Weiss in her portrayal of a callous Pygmalion to Rudd’s ‘Gallatea’ it is really her psychological motivation we need to understand, yet it is never disclosed. And as arrogant as Evelyn, was the production with a curtain irritating and unnecessarily closing the audience off from the scene changes, overly-loud music, and a juvenile tease about whether to give a curtain call. An entertaining evening yes, but it is Giles Cadle’s set: a wall of pop-out sections which transforms into a multiplicity of locales, that makes the most impact. ~ faircomment@hotmail.com - USER: Whatsonstage.com | 07 Jul 01 |
