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January 08, 2006
Fat Pig (the play, not me--although after this bowl of ice cream...)
Yesterday I cast off the shackles of the Big Idea and met Mr. Bad Apologies and friends for a pay-what-you-can showing of Fat Pig (by the well-regarded Neil LaBute) at the Studio Theatre.
First, I would like to reiterate my love of Studio Theatre. I love the intimacy of the black box experience...I love how you feel totally engaged with the actors...I love how the theatre takes risks with their productions. Since its renovations, I had been there only once before to see The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow. While I loved it then, having also seen Fat Pig, I love it even more. Which brings me to sudden New Year's Resolution #4:
More theatre!
I have to admit that I was a little hesitant about seeing a play called Fat Pig, especially a play whose director is billed as "the most legitimately provocative and polarizing playwright at work today" by New York Metro. Not being a size 6 myself, I was perhaps a little more sensitive to the issue than the "skinnies" in the audience. (In fact, Mr. Bad Apologies and I had a pre-play discussion about whether there should be seperate showings for fat people and skinny people, so as to remove the audience tension and distraction by wondering how the alternately-sized person in the row ahead of you is reacting to that tasteless fat joke.)
I was worried that it would be provocative in a John Waters' Pink Flamingo sort of way (which, as a result of seeing it unawares, I am still permanently scarred), instead of a thoughtful, stereotype-challenging sort of way.
The general description gave me hope:
This bitingly funny modern romance kicks off The Studio Theatre’s Neil LaBute Festival. In a culture obsessed with beauty, can love ever be blind? Tom feels a magnetic attraction for the bright and witty Helen, but his coworkers are committed to saving him from himself. Cast: Kate Debelack (Helen), Tyler Pierce (Tom), Anne Bowles (Jeannie), and Jason Odell Williams (Carter).
Let me just say, I was not disappointed. The story was GREAT, the actors were superb, and we talked about it all the way home. Here were some of the reasons we thought it was so compelling:
1. The characters were believable. Each of the four characters was well-developed enough that you could honestly see them as people in real life. You might love them or hate them, but they were people you recognized. I could have sworn I worked in that office, with the "development guys" and the "accounting girls" and the inter-office dating and that one guy who always hangs out in the next-door office talking about girls.
2. The characters had chemistry. The inital scene, where Tom (the attractive guy) meets Helen (the "fat pig"), realistically set up their romance. As an audience member, you squirm as Tom makes accidental references to Helen's weight, and you cringe as Helen returns to comment that "I'd even like us to be phone friends". Even the (modest) scenes in bed had a feeling like you were looking into someone's real life.
3. The actors are brave. Kate Debelack (who plays "fat pig" Helen) does a marvelous job of being the funny-and-confident-yet-too-self-deprecating-fat-girl. In the final scene, she manages to appear on stage in a bathingsuit while credibly conveying anger, irritation, and heartbreak--while all I could manage was trying to hide my thighs. Jason Odell Williams (the office mate) does a superb job of playing a shallow jackass that's still likable and funny and a good friend. He manages to say amazingly offensive things in a way, yet I would still invite him to happy hour. Tyler Pierce (Helen's love interest) prances around in the bedroom scene like a man in the privacy of his own home instead of a stage in a packed auditorium. And Anne Bowles (Jeannie, the scored ex-girlfriend) hits just the right note in playing a bitchy office girl who nonetheless has real reason to feel abused in her relationship with Tom.
4. The story ends the way it had to--no pat endings or huge disasters. I walked out thinking this is the way real life happens.
Anyway, the play runs through February 12 and I highly recommend it. And I'd also like to apologize to the (very offended) guys to my right about coughing all the way through the play. I had a piece of pepper from lunch caught in my throat and I thought I was going to die. But geez, it wasn't like I was spewing germs all over you--you didn't need to act like I was Typhoid Mary.
