The musical version of American Psycho at the Almeida takes the infamous story from Bret Easton Ellis book and the Christian Bale movie and turns it into a stylised stage show.
The story is set right in the middle of that 80s Wall Street bubble, following Patrick Bateman, a guy who is basically the ultimate yuppie. He’s obsessed with his skin routine, his expensive suits, and having the perfect business card, but he’s also a cold-blooded serial killer on the side.
Arty Frousham takes on the role of Bateman, and he’s genuinely brilliant in it; he’s got this weird, stiff, almost plastic energy that makes him feel like a man who has completely lost his soul to consumerism. He’s surrounded by a cast that really brings that vapid, annoying world to life. You’ve got Oli Higginson as Tim Price, who is just as arrogant as you’d hope, and Emily Barber as Bateman’s girlfriend Evelyn, who is perfectly shallow. Daniel Bravo is great as Paul Owen—the guy who basically signs his own death warrant just by being more successful—and Anastasia Martin brings some much-needed humanity to the show as Bateman’s secretary, Jean. All of the characters help to flesh out this world of people who are so self-obsessed they can’t see the monster standing right next to them.
Rupert Goold’s direction is incredibly sharp, and he works with designer Es Devlin to create a set that looks like a giant, bright white box that really highlights the gore when things finally get messy. The music is by Duncan Sheik, and while it definitely captures that electronic, synth-heavy 80s sound, it’s also where the show stumbles a bit. Even though the atmosphere is great, quite a few of the songs don’t really seem to have a purpose; they feel more like they’re there to pad out the runtime rather than moving the story forward or telling us anything new about what’s going on in Bateman’s head.
There’s also a bit of an issue with the tone, as the production occasionally drifts into an unnecessary silliness that feels a bit like a panto. When it starts winking at the audience too much or going for goofy laughs, it kills the dark, dangerous tension that makes the story interesting in the first place.
American Psycho is a very stylish, well-acted night of theatre that nails the hollow feeling of the decade, but it works best when it stays focused on the psychological dread rather than those less functional moments.
It runs until 14 March.
Photos: Marc Brenner