Review: The Shape of Things

A Review

From SpeakEasy Stage Company

Art Isn't Easy

By R. J. Donovan

The setting is a museum. The main characters, a sexy art student and a nebbish security guard. The student, fully intending to deface an exhibit with a can of spray paint, steps over the velvet rope and the game begins.

She crosses the line, and that becomes the watch cry in Neil LaBute’s thoroughly satisfying “The Shape of Things,” now in its New England premiere courtesy of SpeakEasy Stage Company.

What follows is an uncomfortably real journey of manipulation that changes lives in a multitude of ways. It also raises the questions: What would you do for love? What would you do for your art? And what price is too much to pay for either? Or both?

LeBute, author of the plays “Bash” and “The Mercy Seat” as well as the films “In The Company of Men,” “Nurse Betty” and “Your Friends and Neighbors,” writes with a biting authenticity. Just weeks ago, The New Yorker commented, “There is no playwright on the planet these days who is writing better than Neil LaBute.”

Thankfully, SpeakEasy has a cast and a director, Paul Melone, up to the challenge of presenting his “Pygmalion”-with-an-agenda creation.

The student and the security guard become more than friends, romance blooms and she begins whittling away at his flaws . . . and his friends. He soon drops the lumpy corduroy jacket for something more stylish. The nail biting stops, the eyeglasses are eliminated and he slowly emerges from his Ugly Duckling shell. Unfortunately, the transformation is more than purely physical.

As Evelyn, the calculating MFA candidate, Laura Latrelle is terrific. She plays the in-your-face character for all its worth, taking no prisoners as she does what she wants and says what she thinks while steamrolling the world to her own whims.

Tommy Day Carey is Adam, the nerdy security guard. As iron-fisted as Evelyn is, Adam is just the opposite. Sweet, warm and funny. Despite possessing an inner strength that Carey plays with a subtle touch, Adam still falls victim to Evelyn’s predatory engineering.

Rounding out the cast of four are Stacy Fischer and Walter Belenky as Jenny and Philip, Adams’s friends who are scheduled to be wed -- until Evelyn applies her brutal palate to them as well. Fischer is very sweet as she works not to cause waves while Belenky is the bone head jock who's got more on the ball than meets the eye.

While it would be unfair to give away the sucker punch ending, suffice it to say the audience on opening night was justifiably jolted at the story’s savage climax. Like a really good thriller, you don’t see it coming. And that only heightens the effect.

In this case of Adam and Eve, there's no need to cast a third character as the snake.

“The Shape Of Things” is at The Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street in Boston through February 22. For information, call 617-426-2787.

(The film version of “The Shape Of Things” will be released in a few months starring the original off-Broadway cast including Paul Rudd, currently seen as Phoebe’s boyfriend, Mike, on “Friends.”)

Production photo: Craig Bailey

-- OnStage Boston

2/5/03

			A Review From SpeakEasy Stage Company Art Isn't Easy By R. J. Donovan The setting is a museum. The main characters, a sexy art student and a nebbish security guard. The student, fully intending to deface an exhibit with a can of spray paint, steps over the velvet rope and the game begins. She crosses the line, and that becomes the watch cry in Neil LaBute’s thoroughly satisfying “The Shape of Things,” now in its New England premiere courtesy of SpeakEasy Stage Company. What follows is an uncomfortably real journey of manipulation that changes lives in a multitude of ways. It also raises the questions: What would you do for love? What would you do for your art? And what price is too much to pay for either? Or both? LeBute, author of the plays “Bash” and “The Mercy Seat” as well as the films “In The Company of Men,” “Nurse Betty” and “Your Friends and Neighbors,” writes with a biting authenticity. Just weeks ago, The New Yorker commented, “There is no playwright on the planet these days who is writing better than Neil LaBute.” Thankfully, SpeakEasy has a cast and a director, Paul Melone, up to the challenge of presenting his “Pygmalion”-with-an-agenda creation. The student and the security guard become more than friends, romance blooms and she begins whittling away at his flaws . . . and his friends. He soon drops the lumpy corduroy jacket for something more stylish. The nail biting stops, the eyeglasses are eliminated and he slowly emerges from his Ugly Duckling shell. Unfortunately, the transformation is more than purely physical. As Evelyn, the calculating MFA candidate, Laura Latrelle is terrific. She plays the in-your-face character for all its worth, taking no prisoners as she does what she wants and says what she thinks while steamrolling the world to her own whims. Tommy Day Carey is Adam, the nerdy security guard. As iron-fisted as Evelyn is, Adam is just the opposite. Sweet, warm and funny. Despite possessing an inner strength that Carey plays with a subtle touch, Adam still falls victim to Evelyn’s predatory engineering. Rounding out the cast of four are Stacy Fischer and Walter Belenky as Jenny and Philip, Adams’s friends who are scheduled to be wed -- until Evelyn applies her brutal palate to them as well. Fischer is very sweet as she works not to cause waves while Belenky is the bone head jock who's got more on the ball than meets the eye. While it would be unfair to give away the sucker punch ending, suffice it to say the audience on opening night was justifiably jolted at the story’s savage climax. Like a really good thriller, you don’t see it coming. And that only heightens the effect. In this case of Adam and Eve, there's no need to cast a third character as the snake. “The Shape Of Things” is at The Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street in Boston through February 22. For information, call 617-426-2787. (The film version of “The Shape Of Things” will be released in a few months starring the original off-Broadway cast including Paul Rudd, currently seen as Phoebe’s boyfriend, Mike, on “Friends.”) Production photo: Craig Bailey -- OnStage Boston 2/5/03

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