The novel and film American Psycho were a satire on the superficiality and materialism of young financial professionals in New York City in the 1980s. The musical adaptation premiered at the Almeida Theatre in 2013 under its then new artistic director, Rupert Goold, and it now returns as his final production before leaving the post. With a second Trump term underway, this story of over-polished surfaces concealing a psychotic killer utterly devoid of values takes on a renewed and deeply ironic resonance. It is easy to read the central character, Patrick Bateman, as representative of America itself. References to Trump and other cultural icons within the 1980s setting enrich the parody and prompt the audience's knowing laughter which is sharpened by hindsight. The values of the Reagan era can be seen as inevitably leading to the current state of American politics. The production is beautifully choreographed by Lynne Page and superbly acted throughout. Arty Froushan is suitably slimy as Bateman, while Emily Barbour is wonderfully vacuous as his fiancée, Evelyn. Anastasia Martin is delightfully wide-eyed as Bateman’s infatuated secretary, Jean, and Oli Higginson shows some impressive dance moves as Timothy Price, Bateman’s fellow arriviste. The music and lyrics by Duncan Sheik are sharp and original. “You Are What You Wear” is a brilliant summation of the values of these corporate clones, and Katrina Lindsay’s costume design is spectacular. From the beach to the boardroom, she gets it exactly right. Full marks also go to sound designer Dan Moses Schreier. The singing sounds natural, avoiding the flattening and shrillness that afflict so many contemporary musicals. While the work may be too gory for some tastes, its satire approaches the Swiftian in spirit, embracing excess, cruelty and grotesquerie in order to lay bare the hypocrisy, vanity and moral hollowness of the world it depicts. Although it concludes with the assertion that it is not an allegory, the show can very easily be read as a political one. It may simply be a study of an amoral and soulless corporate culture, or of an individual who demonstrates that the journey from narcissism to solipsism is a short one. However, it also reads as a piercing commentary on the times in which we live.
Rated: ★★★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Marc Brenner
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