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A major – if notably misanthropic – force in American drama for three decades, Neil LaBute’s stage career seemed to broadly run aground at the start of 2018, when a couple of major US productions of his work were abruptly cancelled for reasons that have never been disclosed. He’s continued to work on screen, but there has been a noticeable lack of enthusiasm for major revivals of his work, and new plays have not been forthcoming.
Here though at last is a revival of one of his biggest plays. He had a close relationship with the previous regime at the Almeida, and ‘The Shape of Things’ premiered there in 2001 in a production led by Paul Rudd and Rachel Weisz (they also starred in the 2003 film version).
Nicky Allpress’s Park Theatre revival isn’t quite as starry, but does ‘Bridgerton’ regular Luke Newton as Adam, a dorky student whose life is changed when magnetic art student Eve displays a sudden, unexpected attraction to him, encouraging him to change his look and his life. But is there something else at play?