Fat Pig
by Neil LaBute
Photos by John Lamb
Critics' Reviews
Sarah Broslaugh - Talkin' Broadway
A recent study from Indiana University reported that no matter what men say, when it comes to choosing a girlfriend, they make their choice based on the woman's physical attractiveness. The study also found that women are not only aware of this fact about male behavior, but know exactly where they register on the babe-o-meter and adjust their expectations accordingly. Women the world over issued a collective "Duh!" but felt vindicated that science confirmed what they already knew.
If you're not into reading scientific reports, you could acquire similar insights by attending a performance of Neil LaBute's 2004 play Fat Pig, performed by Hot City Theatre at the ArtLoft Theatre through September 22. The story concerns a romance between Tom, a conventionally attractive young man enjoying early success in the corporate world, and Helen, a librarian who is funny, self-confident and a long way from slender. In fact, she's passed the Rubenesque category and has settled in Camryn Manheim territory.
To his credit, the slender Tom is not put off by Helen's size; in fact, one thing he likes about her is that she doesn't share the weight obsession of his previous girlfriend and current coworker, Jeannine. His struggles have to do with enduring mockery from his co-workers, particularly his loud friend Carter who barely seems to have progressed - emotionally or intellectually - beyond junior high school. Tom is threatened by loss of status if he continues to date this plus-size woman, because to do so would demonstrate his disregard of the implicit value system in which women function as status symbols for men, and their women's value as status symbols is established primarily by their physical attractiveness.
This is an interesting insight by LaBute, a playwright best known for his depictions of human dishonesty and cruelty. If (speaking very broadly of course) some men want only one thing from a girl, could it be that the one thing they want is not sex but prestige? Certainly, there's nothing which raises a guy's standing in the competitive world of social status quite as efficiently as appearing in public with a desirable woman on his arm.
Of course, Tom's choice of a dating partner has nothing to do with his ability to do his job, but it has everything to do with his willingness to pledge allegiance to the values of the corporate world, which include prejudice against overweight women. And if you don't know which is more important, career-wise, I have a bridge in Brooklyn you might be interested in buying.
Fat Pig focuses on the battle for Tom's soul: will he continue to pledge allegiance to his coworkers' shallow value system, or will he or follow his own better instincts at the price of lost status and diminished career prospects? You'll have to watch the play to learn the answer, but considering who the author is, you can probably guess how it works out.
The Hot City production of Fat Pig, directed by Marty Stanberry, gives a spirited production to LaBute's text. Unfortunately, the text itself is often lacking, particularly in the early scenes between Tom and Helen, which consist mainly of the inanities necessary to getting acquainted and working out a relationship. Yes, I know real life is often boring, but this is a play and we expect something more interesting for the price of our ticket.
Another disappointment is the shallow characterizations: despite some crackling LaBute dialogue, the characters, except for Helen, are all pretty much one-dimensional and appear to have been created more as mouthpieces for ideas which are necessary to create the play's conflict, rather than real fleshed-out characters. This is particularly true of Jeanne, who seems to have only two notes: bitchy and bitchier. Carter also has no depth: he's immature and annoying (if occasionally very funny) from first to last. Even Tom is largely a cipher, equally unaware of who he is and of how the world around him works: one wonders both what Helen sees in him, and how he got that nice window office in the first place. Unfortunately, because he is the central focus of the play's conflict, an insubstantial Tom makes for an unsatisfying evening of theatre.
These faults cannot be laid to Hot City's performance, however. David Finn creates an attractive and charming Tom who seems to genuinely value Helen's company and who defends her against his predatory co-workers. Liana Kopchak as Helen has the most to work with, and uses it to create the most interesting character in the play. She knows who she is and the kind of snap judgments people make about her, but continues to enjoy her life and look for substance in her relationships with other people. Nick Cutelli as Carter steals most of the scenes he is in, playing up his character's immaturity with great energy and fulfilling his role as the primary instigator of conflict. Melissa Rae Brown takes her role as Jeannie as far as she can; if that's not very far, the fault lies with the playwright rather than the actress. And I hope it won't be considered sexist or size-ist to note that she looks great in a bikini: the plot requires that she do so, and she does.
Otis Sweezey created an interesting modernistic set, consisting primarily of backdrops painted in abstract geometric patterns reminiscent of Robert Delaunay, with a few landmarks (the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty) thrown in to let us know the play is set in New York. Some of the sets rotate, and portable furniture is carried on and off to suggest the necessary locations, including two restaurants, Tom's office, and the beach.
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HotCity Theatre's Fat Pig'll fill you up.
By Paul Friswold
Published on September 12, 2007 at 9:11am
Neil LaBute's work — The Shape of Things, Bash, In the Company of Men — has a well-deserved reputation for being provocative and unsettling; it's good to know that going in. Fat Pig, however, delivers such a visceral impact that even typing out the name causes bile to rise in the back of my throat. A performance of HotCity Theatre's current production yielded aftershocks well into the evening — not to mention musings on the politics of beauty, the nature of victimization and the uncomfortable truth that there's no more brutal snob than the one who lives behind your own eyes.
That, friends, is good theater.
Much credit is due to Liana Kopchak, who plays the titular character, Helen. In the play's first twenty minutes, Kopchak is the very picture of ebullience, giggling unself-consciously and flashing a beautiful smile as she bluntly details the crime of being a fat person in a weight-obsessed society. Kopchak imbues the plus-size librarian with a self-deprecating humor that barely shields a vulnerable woman. Tom (David Finn), a handsome man who's visibly distressed at Helen's frequent fat jokes, can't help but be charmed by her; she's bright and funny and they share a fondness for old war movies and a good meal. Only when he delivers a riposte in the form of a lame-but-sweet Helen of Troy joke does a self-conscious grimace cross Helen's face. Over the course of the evening, that look will appear with more frequency and greater sadness, until it becomes the rule rather than the exception.
Helen's attraction to Tom seems predicated on his good looks, as that's seemingly all he has going for him. But despite her concerns about whether their relationship can last, they begin dating. Turns out Helen is right to worry. As soon as they get wind of the relationship Tom's office friend Carter (Nick Cutelli) and his on-again, off-again girlfriend Jeannie (Melissa Rae Brown) commence mocking the fat woman — and Tom for being with her. Brown plays Jeannie with a flinty, self-involved neediness that blossoms into spectacularly venal cruelty. Carter, by contrast, is a magnificently enjoyable prick. Cutelli concocts a piquant blend of smarm and charm (schmarm?) that generates huge laughs even as he spews toxic waste.
Carter revels in his own meanness, referring to himself as "Dr. Asshole." By play's end it's disquieting to realize just how good a diagnostician the doctor truly is. Not so Tom. Though he admits he's "wussy" and "shallow" and mutely accepts Jeannie's accusation that he's a "little boy in big boy clothing," Tom is blind to what such traits imply about his future. Contending that Helen's physical unattractiveness makes Tom look bad, Carter lays it on the table when he tells his friend, "I'm not talking about what people deserve. I'm talking about what they get." This being LaBute, what we're going to get is more torment, and more truth.
Though director Martin Stanberry maintains a crisp pace and a clean, natural flow to the language and the action, Fat Pig's denouement is a leap off a cliff you didn't see coming.
During a conversation with Tom about their shared passion for war movies, Helen conflates the Kirk Douglas Western Lonely Are the Brave and the Frank Sinatra war picture None But the Brave. That's no accident. The word brave is tossed around several times in reference to Tom: Is he brave enough to weather society's approbation? Brave enough to make a commitment? Brave enough to face up to who's really behind his callow façade? But when the lights come up, you're liable to walk out of the theater unsure whether bravery's anything to brag about. It's lonely and none that matter.