Theater Review: Fat Pig by Neil LaBute, Studio Theater Production, Washington, D.C. (2006)

This is a very interesting, very challenging play addressing the importance of physical appearance in contemporary society. The story follows the romance--[spoiler alert] from first meeting to break-up--of an "odd couple," a slender man and an overweight woman, Helen. Despite Helen's obvious charms--she's funny, smart, likes "guy-type things," and is comfortable with herself--there is, well, her physical appearance. And the play won't let you off the hook, here, theatergoer, as the actress playing Helen appears in both bedclothes and . . . a bathing suit. The last scene is set at a beach party. I think that this is LaBute's way of making the play "production proof." No production can avoid putting the overweight actress in a revealing costume for this one scene. In that sense, it's like Frank Lloyd Wright making his houses "owner-proof" with built-in furniture. No production can avoid making the theatergoer uncomfortable with the sight of so much fat flesh. (This also takes quite a bit of courage for the actress playing Helen, I think. She really puts herself out there, so to speak.)

The play is really affective, though, because the plight of the character Helen, who just wants to love and be loved, even if she is not, in a physical sense, lovely, must be somewhat similar to the plight of the actress playing Helen, who is talented, and probably shares many of Helen's positive traits--as well as her weight "problem." And the play is clear that this is Helen's problem only because it is an issue for everyone else.

In the end, the social pressure felt by the male character, Tom, is too much for him, despite his feelings for Helen. The play, or at least this production, was clear that his problem was weakness. He was just too weak to endure the pressure of knowing that everyone else saw Helen as a "fat pig."

A serious play. My one, hypothetical, concern is that, when this is made into a movie, the production will either cast Helen as a slender actress and put her in a fat suit, which just wouldn't work, OR it will involve a slender actress putting on a few pounds to play a modestly overweight "Bridget Jones." But to really work, this play needs the audience to identify with the plight of a real fat person.