“You stepped over the line.” is both the first line of Neil Labute’s The Shape of Things and also a criticism leveled at LaBute for a lot of his writing. Sometimes labeled a misanthrope and other times labeled a misogynist, Labute’s plays and films like In the Company of Men often feature terrible people doing terrible things and getting away with it. But if the last two months in our country tell us anything, it’s that terrible people do get away with doing terrible things. Labute’s work merely reflects that reality. It’s a stretch to say he endorses it. 

The Shape of Things, running at The 222 in Healdsburg through March 2, debuted in London in 2001 with Paul Rudd and Rachel Weisz in the leads. A film adaptation also starring Rudd and Weisz followed shortly thereafter. 

It’s the tale of four young university students whose paths cross and whose lives change (for the better? the worse?) over the span of 18 weeks.

Nebbish University art gallery security guard Adam (Terrance Austin Smith) has his hands full with protester Eveyln (Anne Yumi Kobori). She’s trying to spray paint genitals back on a statue that’s had them covered in plaster after community objections. Adam is quickly taken with by the forceful Evelyn and a relationship develops. Evelyn guides Adam out of his shell, encouraging him to take better care of himself with a better diet and exercise, improve his attire, and even undergo a bit of cosmetic surgery. 

Adam’s friends Phillip (William Webb) and Jenny (Lauren Berling) at first are impressed with the changes in Adam, but soon have their concerns. In no time, Evelyn convinces Adam to drop his friends. Then she drops a bomb on Adam. A couple of bombs, actually, before a final, devastating detonation.

Jeffrey Bracco directed the bare-bones production where the entire set consists of just a collection of white cubes that transform into whatever they’re needed to be (a statue, a bed, etc.). It helps that the show is being done at the Paul Mahder Gallery as an art gallery is the setting for its opening and closing scenes.   

The young cast is solid with particularly good work being done by Berling as human collateral damage from Adam’s relationship with Evelyn. Smith plays the arc of his character well, and Webb has the college bro thing down pat. Kobori’s Evelyn, while strong, comes off a bit too strong. A somewhat softer approach to the character would have made her ulterior motives that much more shocking by the play’s conclusion.

At its (somewhat black) heart, The Shape of Things raises the age-old issues of what one would be willing to do for love and whether the ends justify the means. Topical references (video stores, Fatal Attraction, Jerry Springer) give the play a somewhat dated feel, but the dramatization of human beings being wretched to other human beings is timeless.

‘The Shape of Things’ runs through March 2 at The 222, 222 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg. Fri – Sat, 7pm; Sunday, 2pm. $45-$105. Students free with ID. 707.473.9152. the222.org

Photos by Erin Partridge

This review originally appeared in an edited version in the North Bay Bohemian and Healdsburg Tribune.