Roberta (Elizabeth Marvel), a visionary fashion photographer, lands the gig of a lifetime - the cover of Vogue - but quickly learns it could be her downfall. Location is a nightmare. The models are vicious. Hair and makeup is MIA. And the cigarette supply is running dangerously low. As chaos escalates, Roberta must summon her strength and find the perfect light to capture a moment of beauty in a brutal world.
Set against the backdrop of a crumbling European estate in the aftermath of Princess Diana’s wedding, Five Models in Ruins, 1981 is a darkly comedic exploration of a woman grappling with the power of her own gaze.
While the cast delivers these lines at a rapid clip under Morgan Green’s direction, Five Models seems content to skim the surface of fashion-world satire without going either very deep or broad — or committing to whether it wants to be a drama or a comedy. One moment, Roberta is earnestly teaching Grace how to adjust the aperture of the lens to achieve a perfect balance between light and shadow. The next, Tatiana is revealing that a photographer raped her at age 14 and Alex describes a plane crash in the Brazilian rain forest that forced her “to survive off the condensation of airplane windows” until the shoot itself was canceled because of a local coup.
While it might take some viewers a little time to realize the double meaning of the title of Caitlin Saylor Stephens’ new play, “Five Models in Ruins, 1981,” now premiering at Lincoln Center Theater under the focused direction of Morgan Green, other audience members may need to ruminate on this sharply funny and deeply disturbing play to understand it’s designed as both an over-the-top satire of the fashion industry and a damning exploration of a male-dominated culture (that still exists five decades later) that treats women as objects rather than people.
| 2025 | Off-Broadway |
Off-Broadway |
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