A Wollongong-based theatre group will present their production of a popular black comedy this month.
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Not-for-profit community group Rising Arts Productions is staging a production of Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things.
The modern black comedy play, and later film, originally featured Paul Rudd and Rachel Weisz.
"It explores how much we are willing to change about ourselves to be accepted and loved, and the limits of artistic expression through the story of two young couples," Jarrod Riesinger, artistic director of Rising Arts Productions and director of the production said.
"One whose relationship is just beginning, and the other who have been engaged long-term.
"Throughout the show, as the lead character changes, these relationships change and fall apart bringing the issue of image and acceptance to the fore."
Riesinger, 26, said the show would feature a cast of Wollongong performers.
He said he first "fell in love" with The Shape of Things while studying it during his high school years.
He said one reason for choosing this show was so Illawarra students would have the opportunity to see a play that is on their prescribed text list for HSC drama.
Riesinger said they were also producing this show because its messages concerning image and accepting one's self are vital in today's culture.
"It was always a play I kept coming back to as I got older and older, and got to understand bits and pieces I may have missed through high school," he said.
"As I grew up I got to understand it more, and I wanted to bring that knowledge and life experience into the show.
"I also wanted to give the next wave of young people coming through an experience from someone that has experienced those similar things of failed relationships, self-image issues and that type of thing, and to explore that."
Riesinger said Rising Arts Productions was still a relatively new group, having formed just over two years ago.
This will be the second play they've staged.
The show runs from March 13 to March 21 at the Wollongong Workshop Theatre.
Tickets here.