Women were created so that men would take showers. Out of a relationship we have a general tendency to wash, in as much as we are in the proximity of the opposite sex, or begin to offend. Our jeans are worn until such time as it strikes us that another lies in the drawer. We get cheap haircuts. Going out somewhere; we might clean up but it would really have to be good. Then along comes a special woman and shortly thereafter we find ourselves in a place called a 'salon' followed by a coupling activity we know as 'shopping for new clothes'. It doesn't end there; a slow transformation begins which only a before and after picture would reveal the true horror. She's changed you.In Neil LaBute's 'The Shape of Things', the standard transformation takes place but at a whole new and disturbing level, along with the requisite before and after.Geeky, overweight Adam (Robert Galas) works as a security guard at an art museum. There he meets worldly MFA student Evelyn (Kira Sternbach) who has come to deface a statue, or rather, add to it. She wants to "paint a big dick" where censorious grapes now hang obscuring genitals. They've met before, she tells him. He once helped her find The Picture of Dorian Gray at his second job in a video shop. Now that Mr. LaBute has dropped the big hints, they date. His grimy old jacket is replaced with a nautical Tommy Hillfigger. He loses weight. His hair is styled. He looks great. He feels great. And they videotape their sex. His jock friend Philip (Luke Neal) can't believe, and doesn't like, the change. Philip's fiancée, blonde stunner, Jenny (Antonia Kinlay), can and does. I gave you a couple of ideas and you changed your life Evelyn mocks him. But the confidence and assurance that he now carries, almost to a swagger, is to his benefit. The buried crush he had on Jenny years before gets its lustful bloom. And so begins trespass, betrayal and manipulation. This is all a LaBute ruse. Underneath this standard drama fare runs something else. Something savage and ruthless that will cost Adam and Evelyn equally. To find out what that is, you'll have to go and see the show and wait for the single trick reveal at the end. This slick, assured production, compressed into a single hour, moves at a clip. Director C Jay Ranger never lets the energy drop with cues picked up in quick-fire exchange, keeping a steady pulse throughout. Music rocks the theatre at open and between scenes with monochromatic clouds rolling over a cross hatched background in a video sequence by Felix Harrison. Bob Bailey's set of translucent furniture gives an appropriate faux-modern emotional devoid sense.Handling the smart, but brutal dialogue requires a subtlety to temper force when needed and make silent moments dig in. Ms. Sternback gives a terrific performance as Evelyn. With her New York pedigree she pursues her game with specificity, responding in the moment with a roll of an eye, a slouch or a touch. She fully explores her Evelyn and never betrays her goals by overt signaling. Mr. Neal's Philip clears the Jock stereotype, by forging an etched bruise into the character. He's complemented by Antonia Kinlay, who is no Albee Honey. Beneath her guileless facade is trenchant rebellion which she expertly harnesses. Mr. Galas, physically matched for Adam, plays gamely but strays at times to the naive geek with demonstration. His sex scene with Evelyn is strained but maybe that's the point.Watching a LaBute play is like sitting on a bag of nails. He makes you squirm. He takes common situations to uncomfortable extremes. We identify with the situation but then he turns on us. Casually labeled a misogynist, misanthrope and a closet homosexual, he excels with vicious and intelligent drama. But his animadversion is singularly due to the target he makes of the audience with a gift of being able to offend and entertain at once. And this he does very well. The play suffers from creaky plot machinations and heavy handedness (such as the symbolism in the opening scenes). You become quite conscious you're watching a play, or more precisely, a game. The extremes he paints tends to create one-dimensional characters and relationships that veer close to absurdity. (Testimony to the actors' contribution in this staging). He has a wintry view of human relationships and interesting as his themes are, there is an irritating coldness in the play. Between Jenny and Philip, for example, there is no warmth but likely not meant to be either. In a desire for some depth, LaBute refuses to provide. This is the play, he might say, it's all surface.The Shape of Things is connected with two other plays - Fat Pig and Pretty Things. All explore our obsession with surface values. But whether this play is truly concerned with our material compulsions, the price of art and love or whether he simply pushes female manipulation tales under the guise of relevant social questions, is all open to debate. When you come out of the theatre, that is exactly what you will be doing; questioning and debating. That's worth getting a pair of clean jeans on and having a wash for.
