Play - The Shape of Things

or the Truth About Relationships

Tonight we saw this play in London. The quick plot is that this woman is an art student and she decides to convince this man to improve himself – loose weight, eat better, get contacts, exercise and even a nose job. She does it by pretending to be his girlfriend and just doing the normal suggestions that a partner might do.

Of course there are a few things done at the end to make the whole thing more extreme and ends with the man only having one pure, true moment left from the whole relationship. However, while I was shocked by this woman’s ability to pretend to be in love, I wasn’t really shocked by anything else.

People really do this in relationships. They subtly convince the other partner to change, even if they aren’t necessarily aware they are doing it. I think its just how people adapt to be with each other. Often these changes are for your own “good” anyway.

I actually think the play attempted to touch on this point, but it was clearly trying to shock the audience with the art students willingness to use and be used and feel empathy toward the man she “sculpted.”.