By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN? Saturday 24 January, opens 30 January and runs through 14 March 2026 RUNTIME: 165 minutes (including a 20 minute interval)

Bret Easton Ellis’ cult 1991 yuppie serial killer novel American Psycho turned 2000 film starring Christian Bale never really screamed to become a musical.

• Read on for reasons including how this is an uncomfortable watch we were repelled by that just reminded us about quite how dark 2026 has become

The main problem to these ears with its musical incarnation is the actual 80s hits it chooses to include – snatches of New Order’s Blue Monday, Human League‘s Don’t You Want Me and Tears For Fears‘ Everybody Wants To Rule The World – are so iconic and of their time that the original score feels dead-eyed and uninspired in their company.

Arty Froushan (The Line Of Beauty, Almeida) plays Patrick Bateman, a Wall Street investment banker turning 27 in the 80s who emerges through the stage’s floor taking us through his GRWM – a fitness and beauty regime complete with latex mask and peppered with designer brands.

Bateman lacks empathy, lives a shallow life attempting to connect with social issues only at face value, hero worships an up-and-coming Donald Trump and becomes increasingly infuriated with a professional rival he considers slightly more successful called Paul Owen who can bag dinner reservations he can’t played infuriatingly well by Daniel Bravo (Cruel Intentions, Other Palace). 

Critics focussed initially on the satire of American Psycho but social media allows us to be aware of the popularity of some of Bateman’s views expressed here and suddenly what seemed absurd in the 80s and 90s feels all too real and very 2026.

Outgoing artistic director Rupert Goold helmed the original 2013 production of this musical at this venue starring Matt Smith and Jonathan Bailey (Richard II, Bridge Theatre) which we didn’t see.

He’s asked in the programme about the ‘hipsterishness’ of his programming which heads to the Old Vic this year and says: ‘Now I’m at my age I kind of don’t know what it means anymore. But I like making work that you feel is cool in some way. We never really articulated it but we know what we meant.’

Froushan’s Bateman is rarely off stage, sweats a lot and turns to serial killing – or does he? – to vent his frustration and we see his damaged view of sexuality and his chainsaw-wielding in all its horror and can’t help but wonder why characters can’t help but fall in love with him.

Particularly effective is a gospel version of Phil Collins’ In The Air Tonight which suddenly wears an eerie coat given the cold climate in which it is deployed here.

American Psycho is certainly a well-cast talking point and we enjoyed Oli Higginson (The Last Five Years, Southwark Playhouse) as Bateman’s equally vapid best friend, Zheng Xi Yong (Your Lie In April, Harold Pinter Theatre) as a hopelessly infatuated gay work colleague and an energetic Jack Butterworth (Kiss Me, Kate, Barbican) in his inner circle.

The women are thinly sketched and we naturally gravitated towards Bateman’s secretary who offers some misguided humanity. But, ultimately, this is an uncomfortable watch we were repelled by and just reminded us about quite how dark 2026 has become.

Rather than offering escapism as musicals so often do perhaps that is its point.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Almeida Theatre Tickets
• Have you seen American Psycho before and what did you think of it? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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