THE Shape of Things hit a nerve when it made its debut in London three years ago. Neil LaBute had already proved he could shock, offering vicious views of manipulative men in the films In the Company of Men and Your Friends and Neighbours. Then, after being accused of misogyny, he came up with a Pygmalion rejig, set among Midwest postgraduates. His twisty, sharp-witted play gave us Evelyn — originally played by Rachel Weisz — a woman so in control that she entirely reinvents her boyfriend Adam. Mixing young love, modern art and loud rock music — Harold Pinter walked out in protest at the noise — it was the sort of show that reached out to those who are suspicious of theatre. But, logistics being what they are, not all that many people got to see it. The original quartet of Weisz, Paul Rudd, Gretchen Mol and Frederick Weller sold out their too-short season at the Almeida’s temporary home in King’s Cross, then whisked it off to New York. Last year it was followed by LaBute’s film — albeit one that stuck too closely to its theatrical origins to pull in the crowds. Undeterred, the producer Kenny Wax decided that the play deserved a chance to find a bigger audience in a West End run. We met the new cast — the American Alicia Witt, and the Limeys Enzo Cilenti, Sienna Guillory and James Murray — to see how they are coping with the pressure of expectation.

DM: The first London production of The Shape of Things was much loved, and last year it became a film. Does it daunt you to be competing with the original cast?

Witt: Well, none of us saw the original.

Cilenti: We’ve all resisted seeing the movie too.

Guillory: And the consensus seems to be that it’s . . .

Murray: S***.

Guillory: . . . not great.

Murray: Nobody went to see the movie, anyway, did they? And yet the play is very much the kind of thing that would appeal to a film audience — young, smart, recognisable characters having troubled relationships.

Cilenti: You know something bad is going to happen, but LaBute does such a good job of sending you in the wrong direction.

Witt: Actually, because it’s so light, where it ended up completely threw me. You get tricked into thinking that everything is as ordinary as any situation you’ve been in yourself. And no matter who you are, you can relate to aspects of all four characters.

Murray: But you can’t relate fully to any of them.

Witt: Nor can you completely hate any of them.

Murray: You can’t love them either.

Witt: But I like Evelyn very much. That’s my job. To take a character who might not be the most likeable on the page, and make her likeable.

Murray: I don’t think whether they’re likeable or not is very important for an audience, is it?

DM: As long as they’re interesting and tell a good story. If this goes well, could it turn into another This is Our Youth, with revolving casts?

Murray: I really hope not. If it runs and runs then the cast will change, but I just don’t think it’s a good idea to bring in Hollywood faces.

Witt: Whoa! Excuse me!

Murray: (laughs) I mean people like Matt Damon and the people who did This is Our Youth who are big movie stars.

Witt: Why not?

Murray: Because I think people go in talking about Matt Damon and go away talking about Matt Damon. The play becomes secondary.

Witt: It’s a good way to get people into the theatre, though.

Murray: It’s a cheat, though.

Witt: Well, what if they go in to see Matt Damon and he blows them away and they think, Wow! I never go to see theatre but now I might because it’s not what I thought it was.

Guillory: But you don’t want people thinking, ‘I should only go and see a play if I get to watch Julia Roberts for two hours.’ No! You’re coming to see the play! Plays are better than films! They’re better written!

Cilenti: The point is, it’s down to the dollar.

Guillory: But it’s immensely brave for a Hollywood lead actress like Alicia to come to the West End and play what is ostensibly an unlikeable character. Because the Hollywood machine forces you to play likeable parts. Parts that don’t get killed off, parts that aren’t twisted.

Witt: You’re right, there is that notion of if you want to get work you should play the pretty girl. But I hate those roles, in general.

Cilenti: Have you seen the theatre since they put the marquee up? It’s very exciting. When you do a play, you feel very comfortable in the theatre, it’s your home.

Murray: That’s one of the big hits of doing it. Your own place in the West End. Not in an arrogant way, it’s more just a sense of “I belong”. That’s a huge pay-off.

Guillory: That’s the w*** bit. You act because you are an actor, you don’t act because you want to show off. “Ooh, I’ve got my name on the marquee, ooh!”

Murray: It’s not about the name on the marquee.

Witt: It’s not a diva thing.

Cilenti: It’s about belonging.

Witt: Well, my character Evelyn is the other extreme — the person who thinks it’s always better to be different.

Murray: A rebel very much without a cause.

DM: Still, your production seems to be sympathetic towards Evelyn. But when Adam finally lays into her conceptual art, it sounds very much like the voice of Neil LaBute.

Witt: Well, I think that’s the job of a good writer, to make you feel like every character is the writer’s mouthpiece. When I read it, I feel like he’s agreeing with Evelyn.

Cilenti: Adam’s speech is an almost verbatim quote of Rudolph Giuliani after the BritArt exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.

Guillory: Our director calls it the Daily Mail speech.

Cilenti: People have applauded it. But because I know where it’s from, there are times when it feels really silly. That didn’t come across in LaBute’s own production.

Witt: I have a feeling, knowing people who saw it first time round, that this is a very different interpretation.

Guillory: The only thing our show has in common with the first production is the words. Which is quite a lot.

Murray: Not really. Words are just there on the page. There’s a hell of a lot you can do with them.

The Shape of Things opens tonight at New Ambassadors, WC2 (020-7369 1761)

CAST OF CHARACTERS

ALICIA WITT, 28. Plays a fine-art postgrad, Evelyn. She played Cybill Shepherd’s daughter Zoey in the sitcom Cybill. Films include Two Weeks Notice, Vanilla Sky.

ENZO CILENTI, 29. Plays the dorky postgrad Adam, who gets transformed by his new girlfriend Evelyn. Films include Late Night, Wonderland, Shopping, 24 Hour Party People.

SIENNA GUILLORY, 28. Plays the perky Jenny, who once had a thing with Adam. Films include Love Actually, The Time Machine and the upcoming Resident Evil: Apocalypse. TV includes Take a Girl Like You. Married to Enzo Cilenti (qv). This is her first play.

JAMES MURRAY, 26. Plays Jenny’s slick fiancé, Phillip. TV includes Sons and Lovers, North Square, Coronation Street.