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Summary Of The Play The Shape Of Things

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Black humour was a term that was coined by Aristotle to refer to the style of theatre that talks about significant issue and controversial topics in society and find the humour within them. This particular style of theatre will normally deal with matters of pain and loss in a way that avoids a sense of negativity as they are treated in a satirical manner. ‘The Shape of Things’ by Neil LaBute and ‘October’ by Ian Wilding are two plays that utilise black humour to explore taboo topics that are normally seen as uncomfortable and suppressed. These plays allow an audience to be entertained while also having a cathartic experience as they are confronted by uncomfortable human experiences. The play ‘The Shape of Things’ by Neil LaBute, has the audience follow the …show more content…

This manipulation can be caused by the strong and obvious attraction that Adam has towards Evelyn or else he wouldn’t have taken her wild suggestions for improvement on board. The main aim of Evelyn is to try to take advantage and use Adams love for her as a way of making him fall under her complete control. One strong example of this is when Evelyn manipulates Adam to get cosmetic surgery done to his nose. Adam clearly displays his nervousness here as he refers to being uncomfortable with the thought of his nose being “hacked” away. However, Evelyn tries to calm his nerves by telling him “it’s just flesh”. In a class workshop that was done, two students took on the role of Adam and Evelyn and performed their interpretation of the characters. The students here had Evelyn speak with such sarcasm that it made it seem like “hacking” away at flesh and body alteration was considered a normal thing. With cosmetic surgery being such a controversial topic, the audience had some of their opinions on the matter challenged here, but by treating the situation in a light-hearted way, it was made

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