Does American Psycho exist? Like its famous protagonist Patrick Bateman, the myth of this horror story-cum-comedy threatens to consume its reality. Starting as novel in 1991, it moved in 2000 to the silver screen before being recast as musical in 2013 and remerging latterly as an incel meme.
The musical version was Rupert Goold’s first smash production when he took over as artistic director of the Almeida Theatre, and he has chosen to re-stage the cult classic as his valedictorian show before heading off to the Old Vic.
In the interim, Bateman – genial investment banker by day, tortured serial killer by night – has morphed online into either the consummate ‘sigma male’ or toxic masculinity incarnate, depending on your point of view. His all-consuming anxiety resonates in the age of Insta-image consciousness, even as his grooming routines and violence against women pervade the manosphere.
And so also the narrative. For some, what rings true is the portrait of a world of plastic smiles and faux nonchalance masking the psychological toll of high finance and unabashed materialism. Others will see it as a dismal allegory of cutthroat capitalism murdering all and sundry (Trump even gets a cameo from Brett Easton Ellis’s original novel onwards).
But for anyone who watches Goold’s vivid production, with book by Duncan Sheik, it is first and foremost a smorgasbord of 1980s nostalgia – big clothes, slim Walkmans, Tears for Fears, Human League, Huey Lewis and the News – all set out on a stage lit like a catwalk.
Arty Froushan dazzles in the lead role, his protean rendition of Bateman capturing the frenzied rage and amiable bonhomie which alternate beneath a smooth, buff surface. Deftly choreographed song and dance routines paraphrase huge chunks of the storyline – including several murders – to pare the drama down to under three hours.
Goold will be sorely missed by Almeida fans, all the more so for this parting tour de force.
American Psycho
Until 14 March 2026
Almeida Theatre
Almeida Street, N1 1TA
