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Fat Pig: A Play
Cow. Slob. Pig. How many insults can you hear before you have to stand up and defend the woman you love? Tom faces just that question when he falls for Helen, a bright, funny, sexy young woman who happens to be plus sized-and then some. Forced to explain his new relationship to his shallow (although shockingly funny) friends, finally he comes to terms with his own preconceptions of the importance of conventional good looks. Neil LaBute's sharply drawn play not only critiques our slavish adherence to Hollywood ideals of beauty but boldy questions our own ability to change what we dislike about ourselves.
108 pages, Kindle Edition
First published November 29, 2004
About the author
Neil LaBute
89 books123 followersNeil LaBute is an American film director, screenwriter and playwright.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, LaBute was raised in Spokane, Washington. He studied theater at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At BYU he also met actor Aaron Eckhart, who would later play leading roles in several of his films. He produced a number of plays that pushed the envelope of what was acceptable at the conservative religious university, some of which were shut down after their premieres. LaBute also did graduate work at the University of Kansas, New York University, and the Royal Academy of London.
In 1993 he returned to Brigham Young University to premier his play In the Company of Men, for which he received an award from the Association for Mormon Letters. He taught drama and film at IPFW in Fort Wayne, Indiana in the early 1990s where he adapted and filmed the play, shot over two weeks and costing $25,000, beginning his career as a film director. The film won the Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival, and major awards and nominations at the Deauville Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Awards, the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Society of Texas Film Critics Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle.
LaBute has received high praise from critics for his edgy and unsettling portrayals of human relationships. In the Company of Men portrays two misogynist businessmen (one played by Eckhart) cruelly plotting to romance and emotionally destroy a deaf woman. His next film Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), with an ensemble cast including Eckhart and Ben Stiller, was a shockingly honest portrayal of the sex lives of three suburban couples. In 2000 he wrote an off-Broadway play entitled Bash: Latter-Day Plays, a set of three short plays (Iphigenia in orem, A gaggle of saints, and Medea redux) depicting essentially good Latter-day Saints doing disturbing and violent things. One of the plays was a much-talked-about one-person performance by Calista Flockhart. This play resulted in his being disfellowshipped from the LDS Church. He has since formally left the LDS Church.
LaBute's 2002 play The Mercy Seat was one of the first major theatrical responses to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Set on September 12, it concerns a man who worked at the World Trade Center but was away from the office during the attack — with his mistress. Expecting that his family believes that he was killed in the towers' collapse, he contemplates using the tragedy to run away and start a new life with his lover. Starring Liev Schreiber and Sigourney Weaver, the play was a commercial and critical success.
LaBute's latest film is The Wicker Man, an American version of a British cult classic. His first horror film, it starred Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn and was released on September 1, 2006 by Warner Bros. Pictures to scathing critical reviews and mediocre box office.
He is working with producer Gail Mutrux on the screen adaptation of The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff.
Born in Detroit, Michigan, LaBute was raised in Spokane, Washington. He studied theater at Brigham Young University (BYU), where he joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. At BYU he also met actor Aaron Eckhart, who would later play leading roles in several of his films. He produced a number of plays that pushed the envelope of what was acceptable at the conservative religious university, some of which were shut down after their premieres. LaBute also did graduate work at the University of Kansas, New York University, and the Royal Academy of London.
In 1993 he returned to Brigham Young University to premier his play In the Company of Men, for which he received an award from the Association for Mormon Letters. He taught drama and film at IPFW in Fort Wayne, Indiana in the early 1990s where he adapted and filmed the play, shot over two weeks and costing $25,000, beginning his career as a film director. The film won the Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival, and major awards and nominations at the Deauville Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Awards, the Thessaloniki Film Festival, the Society of Texas Film Critics Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle.
LaBute has received high praise from critics for his edgy and unsettling portrayals of human relationships. In the Company of Men portrays two misogynist businessmen (one played by Eckhart) cruelly plotting to romance and emotionally destroy a deaf woman. His next film Your Friends & Neighbors (1998), with an ensemble cast including Eckhart and Ben Stiller, was a shockingly honest portrayal of the sex lives of three suburban couples. In 2000 he wrote an off-Broadway play entitled Bash: Latter-Day Plays, a set of three short plays (Iphigenia in orem, A gaggle of saints, and Medea redux) depicting essentially good Latter-day Saints doing disturbing and violent things. One of the plays was a much-talked-about one-person performance by Calista Flockhart. This play resulted in his being disfellowshipped from the LDS Church. He has since formally left the LDS Church.
LaBute's 2002 play The Mercy Seat was one of the first major theatrical responses to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Set on September 12, it concerns a man who worked at the World Trade Center but was away from the office during the attack — with his mistress. Expecting that his family believes that he was killed in the towers' collapse, he contemplates using the tragedy to run away and start a new life with his lover. Starring Liev Schreiber and Sigourney Weaver, the play was a commercial and critical success.
LaBute's latest film is The Wicker Man, an American version of a British cult classic. His first horror film, it starred Nicolas Cage and Ellen Burstyn and was released on September 1, 2006 by Warner Bros. Pictures to scathing critical reviews and mediocre box office.
He is working with producer Gail Mutrux on the screen adaptation of The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 149 reviews
May 22, 2018
Absolutely disgusting, and terribly written.
I've written about my disdain for Neil LaBute before. Not only are his plays incredibly mean-spirited and misogynistic, but they're not really well-written either, so even if he IS doing something subtly skewering misogynistic characters, the writing isn't good enough to adequately distinguish between the opinions of the characters and the writers.
Case in point: Fat Pig, a play about a man coming to terms with his overweight girlfriend. Gag. Mistake number one is centering this play on the guy. Neil LaBute's protagonists, from what I've read, are ALWAYS guys, and they're always milquetoast and uninteresting, with stuff happening TO them rather than them making stuff happen.
But the worst part of Fat Pig is just the premise. Tom (the protagonist) starts dating a woman larger than himself and his co-workers ("friends", the play charitably calls them) make fun of him for it. And not only make fun of him for it, but one of his female "friends" keeps picking on his girlfriend because she herself is attracted to Tom. It's just . . . gross.
The whole play is horrendously gross, and it LaBute doesn't put in enough effort to justify its grossness. Maybe there IS a subsection of society that's not okay with fat people. (Okay, we KNOW there's a subsection of society that's not okay with fat people.) And maybe there's a Tom out there who's so fucking shallow that his friends criticizing his girlfriend's weight would actually give him fucking pause. But what does that ultimately prove? An asshole can't get over standard conventions of beauty? That standard conventions of beauty are dumb? Does LaBute assume that the majority of people out there would find this a worthwhile topic of debate?
It's been a while since I read this, so I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but the feeling has stuck with me: disgust. Disgust at such a shallow and gross play. Even if I didn't vehemently disagree with the fundamental premise, I'd still hate this play. Characters are one-note and have little room to grow and the dialogue is just horrendous. Stilted, awkward, gross. Gross! I'd still say check this out, because it's fascinating how terrible it is. But ugh. Fuck Neil LaBute.
I've written about my disdain for Neil LaBute before. Not only are his plays incredibly mean-spirited and misogynistic, but they're not really well-written either, so even if he IS doing something subtly skewering misogynistic characters, the writing isn't good enough to adequately distinguish between the opinions of the characters and the writers.
Case in point: Fat Pig, a play about a man coming to terms with his overweight girlfriend. Gag. Mistake number one is centering this play on the guy. Neil LaBute's protagonists, from what I've read, are ALWAYS guys, and they're always milquetoast and uninteresting, with stuff happening TO them rather than them making stuff happen.
But the worst part of Fat Pig is just the premise. Tom (the protagonist) starts dating a woman larger than himself and his co-workers ("friends", the play charitably calls them) make fun of him for it. And not only make fun of him for it, but one of his female "friends" keeps picking on his girlfriend because she herself is attracted to Tom. It's just . . . gross.
The whole play is horrendously gross, and it LaBute doesn't put in enough effort to justify its grossness. Maybe there IS a subsection of society that's not okay with fat people. (Okay, we KNOW there's a subsection of society that's not okay with fat people.) And maybe there's a Tom out there who's so fucking shallow that his friends criticizing his girlfriend's weight would actually give him fucking pause. But what does that ultimately prove? An asshole can't get over standard conventions of beauty? That standard conventions of beauty are dumb? Does LaBute assume that the majority of people out there would find this a worthwhile topic of debate?
It's been a while since I read this, so I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but the feeling has stuck with me: disgust. Disgust at such a shallow and gross play. Even if I didn't vehemently disagree with the fundamental premise, I'd still hate this play. Characters are one-note and have little room to grow and the dialogue is just horrendous. Stilted, awkward, gross. Gross! I'd still say check this out, because it's fascinating how terrible it is. But ugh. Fuck Neil LaBute.
October 10, 2017
Man walks into a cafeteria for lunch, and immediately fixates on a corpulent woman, alone at a table, laden with viands. She asks if he would like to join her. He does.
What follows is; Simple. Honest. Lovely.
Flawless are they who have acknowledged their flaws.
Warning: This play is not for men who flex their muscles in sleeveless t-shirts or women who use superfluous foundation and makeup.
What follows is; Simple. Honest. Lovely.
Flawless are they who have acknowledged their flaws.
Warning: This play is not for men who flex their muscles in sleeveless t-shirts or women who use superfluous foundation and makeup.
July 23, 2012
Average guy dates fat girl. Social commentary follows.
I’ve heard people rave about this play for years. I don't get the hype.
Now, to be fair, I read Fat Pig after binge reading a bunch of plays published in the first half of the twentieth century, and it's not a fair comparison. Fat Pig is flat and amateurish when stacked against some of the giants of the twentieth-century stage. It lectures and postures in place of a story, and while I enjoyed Mr. Bute’s style of vague, scattered conversation, it’s overkill. I found Helen (the titular Fat Pig) more patronizing than empowering and, unlike works by Philip Barry or Terence Rattigan, there’s no chemistry between the characters on the page. Ignoring the weight issue, I didn’t get why these characters wanted to be with each other. And fine, I’ll admit it. I hated LaBute’s portrayal of women. If this is supposed to be empowering and postmodern: Yuck. Not recommended.
I’ve heard people rave about this play for years. I don't get the hype.
Now, to be fair, I read Fat Pig after binge reading a bunch of plays published in the first half of the twentieth century, and it's not a fair comparison. Fat Pig is flat and amateurish when stacked against some of the giants of the twentieth-century stage. It lectures and postures in place of a story, and while I enjoyed Mr. Bute’s style of vague, scattered conversation, it’s overkill. I found Helen (the titular Fat Pig) more patronizing than empowering and, unlike works by Philip Barry or Terence Rattigan, there’s no chemistry between the characters on the page. Ignoring the weight issue, I didn’t get why these characters wanted to be with each other. And fine, I’ll admit it. I hated LaBute’s portrayal of women. If this is supposed to be empowering and postmodern: Yuck. Not recommended.
July 16, 2019
Helen’s quirky because she watches war movies. She’s “not like other girls.” The other female, Jeannie, slaps men, her coworkers, IN THE OFFICE, because she’s a crazy ex girlfriend. Labute continues his “social commentary” plays about sexism with our protagonist being a wishy-washy casual sexist who for some reason is best friends with the most sexist sexist that ever sexisted. I read this right after finishing The Pillowman, a masterpiece, which only made this experience all the more miserable.
September 19, 2021
I'm not usually this frank in reviews, but frankly, Fat Pig was not good. The writing was bad and the spirit of every character and every dialogue was rooted too much on being mean-spirited, misogynistic, and overly intentionally fatphobic without any sense of reality and nuance to any of it, and without an interesting plot or story to make it worth our time. Like, clearly, the play is trying to bring a mirror to how cruel fatphobia can be, and it certainly does that, but only by being gross and mean, which really isn't enough. How it was written just wasn't interesting, how it was displayed through the characters was dry and frustrating, and there was virtually no actual story, it's just boy-meets-fat-girl, his co-workers harass and abuse him for dating said fat-girl, so he decides to end their relationship because he can't take it anymore, and that's literally it, and that wouldn't even be a problem if it was actually good? Not only is that bad writing, it's also lazy writing. Like, with a title like FAT PIG, I get that the point of this play is to be "bold" and "shocking" about the issues that fat women and men who date fat women may go through, but without an actual story and with non-existent character arcs and where everyone and everything is rude for no reason, it's meaningless. It was really just bad writing, bad dialogue, bad storytelling, and bad, shallow, and woefully boring one-note characters that had no redeemable, relatable, or empathetic qualities about them, they were just awful and mean, the whole premise of it all was wrong, everything about this was borderline offensive caricature for offensive caricature's sake, and for WHAT? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF IT ALL? Pretty much, the answer is, nothing. Just...blah, and no.
February 12, 2023
I got this in college after enjoying some of LaBute's other plays, but I just picked up this one years later. Unfortunately, it's dumb as shit.
With a name like it has and based on my previous reads from him, I was hoping for a subversive look at the way we treat others and why we should think differently. Instead, this has no substance beyond making fun of fat people. Truly, that's it.
Each of the four characters has a mere wisp of personality - Tom doesn't even finish half of his sentences, and none of them really do anything. Helen is nothing but the fat one; she and Tom fall in love based on... what? Tom's friends make fun of her, and we never see anything but these repeated conversations.
Since you shouldn't read this, I'll spoil it all by saying that it ends when Tom is too afraid of his peers to keep dating Helen, because he can't deal with what might be said about him dating a fat woman. This play added nothing to the world and spent its short time punching down on people who are in no way deserving of this hate. Mind your own business, and pick out literally anything that has character development, plot, or an actual point. This is about as bad as it gets.
With a name like it has and based on my previous reads from him, I was hoping for a subversive look at the way we treat others and why we should think differently. Instead, this has no substance beyond making fun of fat people. Truly, that's it.
Each of the four characters has a mere wisp of personality - Tom doesn't even finish half of his sentences, and none of them really do anything. Helen is nothing but the fat one; she and Tom fall in love based on... what? Tom's friends make fun of her, and we never see anything but these repeated conversations.
Since you shouldn't read this, I'll spoil it all by saying that it ends when Tom is too afraid of his peers to keep dating Helen, because he can't deal with what might be said about him dating a fat woman. This play added nothing to the world and spent its short time punching down on people who are in no way deserving of this hate. Mind your own business, and pick out literally anything that has character development, plot, or an actual point. This is about as bad as it gets.
April 13, 2019
Brutal and sad and darkly funny.
March 10, 2021
I've decided 2021 will be the damn year I read all the plays I've been collecting. So I'm just starting on one row of my bookshelf and working my way diligently through it. I'll also be reading one play on NPX a week to make up for how white and male my current collection is - I'm so serious about making it through this bookshelf, ya'll - I'm going to make it!
Am I happy to start this list off with some Labute? Not really - I was drawn to his work in my early theatre days, but in retrospect a lot of it doesn't hold up for me. This is pretty typical for Labute - 4 characters with just a few redeemable qualities between the lot of them, and a lesson in human cruelty and vanity. It's dedicated to Mamet and there is a Morrissey quote on the first page - which makes all too much sense in terms of the character of these men. Labute has some nice highlights in his catalogue, and I'm sure a group of good actors could make this play a worthy watch - but he's no Mamet or Morrissey, that's for sure.
Am I happy to start this list off with some Labute? Not really - I was drawn to his work in my early theatre days, but in retrospect a lot of it doesn't hold up for me. This is pretty typical for Labute - 4 characters with just a few redeemable qualities between the lot of them, and a lesson in human cruelty and vanity. It's dedicated to Mamet and there is a Morrissey quote on the first page - which makes all too much sense in terms of the character of these men. Labute has some nice highlights in his catalogue, and I'm sure a group of good actors could make this play a worthy watch - but he's no Mamet or Morrissey, that's for sure.
January 2, 2010
Saw this originally in London, directed by Neil Labute.
Like all other Labute plays when you see them done- it rips you a new one and like all the other females in the audience I was gripping my seat in horror that this could be the common belief of man. But I am in love with the writing of this play. The wanting to be better, to better oneself and yet choosing against it. Choosing consciously not to progress.
"Every-time you'll wipe your mouth you'll think of me..." -Helen.
Like all other Labute plays when you see them done- it rips you a new one and like all the other females in the audience I was gripping my seat in horror that this could be the common belief of man. But I am in love with the writing of this play. The wanting to be better, to better oneself and yet choosing against it. Choosing consciously not to progress.
"Every-time you'll wipe your mouth you'll think of me..." -Helen.
March 1, 2014
I love plays about damaged personalities. I think they give great insight into pieces of ourselves that we struggle with, and its easier to look at them through a microscope focused on another person. The main character of the story isn't really a great person but he's got a believable flaw that inspires self examination, and I think that's a good achievement for any play.
March 26, 2025
guy had a dick so small he cried
November 10, 2017
"Fat Pig" by Neil LaBute was fast-paced, but it felt neither rushed nor incomplete. The premise was interesting enough, since it tackled body issues, discrimination, reality, and the nature of human beings. More importantly, it showed how an individual could not actually change, at least not immediately, especially when surrounded by people who share the same thoughts and opinions. My only trouble with this was that I did not get much of the references, but other than that, it was a great read. It had a realistic take on how human beings could discriminate or look down on "fat" persons; it showed the cruelty of human beings toward those persons whose physical appearances failed to correspond with the expectations and ideals of some.
My actual rating for this was 3.5/5 stars.
My actual rating for this was 3.5/5 stars.
April 17, 2019
The characters have very few redeemable qualities. In the end, they all have some sort of involution, the woman most of all.
February 8, 2020
Powerful and moving play about why body image is still judged so harshly in society.
March 3, 2024
Holy Crap this is great!
February 20, 2026
it was good. I didn’t like the ending
July 29, 2025
Horrific & bad - wish I could give this negative stars, I couldn't even finish it ... Not only is this ridiculously fatphobic - which it thinks it can get away with by unsuccessfully trying to be like 'it's BAD to be like this' - it's also misogynistic and orientalist in the same breath. Yay!
How does LaBute "boldly question" anything when the main character is endlessly subjected to fatphobia & misogyny, with no conclusion, no positivity? She has no agency as a character, she can never speak up for herself. There isn't even a Disney happily-ever-after ending because at no point is this character looked after or defended.What are we supposed to walk away with other than a bad taste in our mouths? An idiotic playwright. I feel sorry I ever spent money on this pile of crap script.
How does LaBute "boldly question" anything when the main character is endlessly subjected to fatphobia & misogyny, with no conclusion, no positivity? She has no agency as a character, she can never speak up for herself. There isn't even a Disney happily-ever-after ending because at no point is this character looked after or defended.What are we supposed to walk away with other than a bad taste in our mouths? An idiotic playwright. I feel sorry I ever spent money on this pile of crap script.
November 22, 2008
At his best, Neil LaBute forces you to examine truths about yourself (and humanity in general) that you might not want to admit. Like many of his plays, Fat Pig is about obsession with physical appearance. Tom, the nice-guy protagonist, is caught between two women: the plus-size Helen and pretty co-worker Jeannie.
Here's the thing: I had a hard time understanding why Tom was falling for Helen. So she has a surprising sense of humor about her obesity. That wouldn't be enough for me, so I guess I am way more shallow than Tom.
On the other hand, I had a hard time understanding how Tom could ever have seen something in the spiteful Jeannie, although Andrew McCarthy's explanation tonight helped. Jeannie is pretty much your normal girl who's just trying to find a good guy, and it frightens her when she finds out she's been rejected in favor of someone who looks like... Helen. It rocks your whole belief system about what traits men value and what priorities they have, and when that happens, a lot of the times all you know to do is be petty and lash out.
That said, LaBute got some things absolutely right and in particular there were a few painful, exquisitely truthful moments. The first comes from Carter, the token a-hole buddy. Carter (played by McCarthy in the original staging) is an unabashed jerk, but he owns it, and in a way he's the real voice of truth in the play. When he explains to Tom just why he shouldn't be dating Helen, his point of view is so effed-up in its bigotry, and yet so coldly logical and, in a crazy way, a genuine piece of friendly advice. This is when I could finally understand how a guy like Tom could be friends with a guy like Carter.
The second comes toward the end, when Helen tells Tom she would change -- radically -- for him. This is the part that broke my heart for Helen and made me realize just who she is on the inside, the burdens and insecurities she must have carried her entire life and the sacrifice she was willing to make to hold on to a piece of ecstasy she assumed she'd never get to experience. This moved me far more than any of the "meet cute" witticisms from earlier in the play.
In short: we are all shallow bastards, even when we try hard not to be.
Here's the thing: I had a hard time understanding why Tom was falling for Helen. So she has a surprising sense of humor about her obesity. That wouldn't be enough for me, so I guess I am way more shallow than Tom.
On the other hand, I had a hard time understanding how Tom could ever have seen something in the spiteful Jeannie, although Andrew McCarthy's explanation tonight helped. Jeannie is pretty much your normal girl who's just trying to find a good guy, and it frightens her when she finds out she's been rejected in favor of someone who looks like... Helen. It rocks your whole belief system about what traits men value and what priorities they have, and when that happens, a lot of the times all you know to do is be petty and lash out.
That said, LaBute got some things absolutely right and in particular there were a few painful, exquisitely truthful moments. The first comes from Carter, the token a-hole buddy. Carter (played by McCarthy in the original staging) is an unabashed jerk, but he owns it, and in a way he's the real voice of truth in the play. When he explains to Tom just why he shouldn't be dating Helen, his point of view is so effed-up in its bigotry, and yet so coldly logical and, in a crazy way, a genuine piece of friendly advice. This is when I could finally understand how a guy like Tom could be friends with a guy like Carter.
The second comes toward the end, when Helen tells Tom she would change -- radically -- for him. This is the part that broke my heart for Helen and made me realize just who she is on the inside, the burdens and insecurities she must have carried her entire life and the sacrifice she was willing to make to hold on to a piece of ecstasy she assumed she'd never get to experience. This moved me far more than any of the "meet cute" witticisms from earlier in the play.
In short: we are all shallow bastards, even when we try hard not to be.
December 27, 2017
This play makes me feel conflicted. I read it once I heard that a revival was being produced with Chrissy Metz (a hero of mine) but don’t understand why I should love this show. I want to like it. I like the idea of a female protagonist who is very overweight and fine with it. I like that Helen doesn’t need validated. I relate to her use of humor to defend herself against what people say about her. But that’s where my applause ends. Each and every one of the characters were, at their core, unlikable. Tom was disappointing. Helen was snide and patronizing. Carter and Jeannine are just utterly horrible human beings. I respect the need to display individuals as flawed and problematic but I didn’t understand the attraction or friendship on a personality level, overarching weight point on Helen’s part notwithstanding. The preface and the premise of this play give the impression of wanting to be honest, but ultimately fall flat and end up disappointing at the end.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 30, 2009
I'm not a fan of Neil LaBute. I find his characterizations distasteful, and he seems unable to find a redeeming quality in any of his male protaganists. This play is no different.
Tom is a meely-mouthed, twenty-something account executive who falls in love with an obese librarian, named Helen. When his co-workers find out, they tease him mercilessly. Just when you think he has gathered up the strength to stand up for his woman, he falls prey to peer (societal) pressure. What makes it even worse, is that Helen, who had been very accepting of her own size throughout the play, becomes this pitiful fat girl who begs Tom to take her back. She even promises to get skinny for him. Why couldn't it have been a totally uncliched ending, and have Helen be angry and gutsy instead of weepy and begging.
Tom is a meely-mouthed, twenty-something account executive who falls in love with an obese librarian, named Helen. When his co-workers find out, they tease him mercilessly. Just when you think he has gathered up the strength to stand up for his woman, he falls prey to peer (societal) pressure. What makes it even worse, is that Helen, who had been very accepting of her own size throughout the play, becomes this pitiful fat girl who begs Tom to take her back. She even promises to get skinny for him. Why couldn't it have been a totally uncliched ending, and have Helen be angry and gutsy instead of weepy and begging.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 24, 2024
I’ve never hated something as much as this playbook. As a plus size woman, reading the blurb for this, and reading the preface, I thought this was going to be a raw story about a man being with a plus size girl and how he stands up to society and the people around him. I thought it would be a hard hitting survey of human emotion and behavior. This is anything but. It’s laughable.
LaBute states in the preface: “they are so desperately human… they are not conventionally likable, perhaps, but they’re absolutely recognizable as people”. Literally no they’re not. They are definitely not likable, but they don’t resemble humanity, but of the dark parts of society. It’s simply written to showcase what the writer sees plus size women as: insecure and unlikeable by society. It is so different for women than it is for men when they are larger, and at no point in this, was that seen.
Problems with the characters and the out of pocket things they say and that the writer writes, the dialogue and the flow of this is horrible. I have spent years studying and writing screenplays, and have been in the writers room with so many men who write comedy like this. Not only is it insulting, but it’s just bad. It’s awkward, not only about what they’re talking about, but the writing. I think a middle schooler could write a better play.
“By the way, she’s a plus size. Very”. (???? What? Might as well just refer to her as “a female” at this point)
“ I can’t even call them girls without getting hit with a lawsuit”. (What the actual f-??)
To all the women that have ever had the displeasure of working with this writer, I’m sorry. If he believes the things he writes about in any capacity, I’m sorry you’ve ever had to meet the man, because I’d run away screaming.
Sorry this is not as well thought out and as edited as I’d like my reviews to be, but I just finished this, and I had to write something about it.
LaBute states in the preface: “they are so desperately human… they are not conventionally likable, perhaps, but they’re absolutely recognizable as people”. Literally no they’re not. They are definitely not likable, but they don’t resemble humanity, but of the dark parts of society. It’s simply written to showcase what the writer sees plus size women as: insecure and unlikeable by society. It is so different for women than it is for men when they are larger, and at no point in this, was that seen.
Problems with the characters and the out of pocket things they say and that the writer writes, the dialogue and the flow of this is horrible. I have spent years studying and writing screenplays, and have been in the writers room with so many men who write comedy like this. Not only is it insulting, but it’s just bad. It’s awkward, not only about what they’re talking about, but the writing. I think a middle schooler could write a better play.
“By the way, she’s a plus size. Very”. (???? What? Might as well just refer to her as “a female” at this point)
“ I can’t even call them girls without getting hit with a lawsuit”. (What the actual f-??)
To all the women that have ever had the displeasure of working with this writer, I’m sorry. If he believes the things he writes about in any capacity, I’m sorry you’ve ever had to meet the man, because I’d run away screaming.
Sorry this is not as well thought out and as edited as I’d like my reviews to be, but I just finished this, and I had to write something about it.
September 21, 2020
I truly hated this, which I think is the point. The characters were really one note (again I think that’s the point), but as a fat woman I would never joke about how it would take a thousand ships to carry me...? (Her name is Helen and they’re joking about Helen of Troy.) It’s truly a shame that this is one of the only fat representation plays to make Broadway. Makes me want to write something better. And yet again I think that’s the point of it? So I’m gonna give it props for truly affecting me, but I’m still gonna rate it low because I don’t think it brings any sort of new or unique perspective to the stage.
Tldr; man likes a fat woman, fat woman makes a lot of fat jokes about herself, mans friend (and ex who’s a harpie for some reason) make fun of her weight, man tells fat woman at the beach while wearing a swimsuit and eating a hotdog that he can’t handle being in public with her even tho she’s wonderful and her really loves her and she even offered to get surgery for him (yeah that’s a weird ass moment) END OF SHOW 🙃
IM SORRY WHAT????
Edit: I hated this so much and would absolutely go see it because it’s so effective, or affective, or both. Would I audition for it? Absolutely. Did it need to be produced in the first place? No way. But since it’s already in existence, I will partake in the chaos should the opportunity present itself.
Tldr; man likes a fat woman, fat woman makes a lot of fat jokes about herself, mans friend (and ex who’s a harpie for some reason) make fun of her weight, man tells fat woman at the beach while wearing a swimsuit and eating a hotdog that he can’t handle being in public with her even tho she’s wonderful and her really loves her and she even offered to get surgery for him (yeah that’s a weird ass moment) END OF SHOW 🙃
IM SORRY WHAT????
Edit: I hated this so much and would absolutely go see it because it’s so effective, or affective, or both. Would I audition for it? Absolutely. Did it need to be produced in the first place? No way. But since it’s already in existence, I will partake in the chaos should the opportunity present itself.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 24, 2023
Basic Plot: Tom and Helen develop a relationship that Tom can't quite handle.
As a certified fat lady (TM), this was a hard play to read. Maybe it's because I don't give a crap about being skinny or dieting/exercise beyond simple nutritional and everyday health concerns. Maybe it's because the people in the play seem so damned shallow. Maybe it's because the play is almost 20 years old at this point and people talk about weight differently now. I don't know. I found the play frustrating. I found the characters to be surface believable, but the more I thought about them, the harder they were to believe. The things they did and said sometimes made sense, sometimes didn't. The ending was natural, based on the way the character Tom was written, but it was still very unsatisfying. I really wanted to see the characters grow and change. I know that's not how life works, but it's what I wanted. My failing, not the author's, I suppose.
From a teacher's perspective, there is a lot of language in the play and some innuendo. There are some scenes that would probably make good classroom exercises, and at least 1 solid monologue.
As a certified fat lady (TM), this was a hard play to read. Maybe it's because I don't give a crap about being skinny or dieting/exercise beyond simple nutritional and everyday health concerns. Maybe it's because the people in the play seem so damned shallow. Maybe it's because the play is almost 20 years old at this point and people talk about weight differently now. I don't know. I found the play frustrating. I found the characters to be surface believable, but the more I thought about them, the harder they were to believe. The things they did and said sometimes made sense, sometimes didn't. The ending was natural, based on the way the character Tom was written, but it was still very unsatisfying. I really wanted to see the characters grow and change. I know that's not how life works, but it's what I wanted. My failing, not the author's, I suppose.
From a teacher's perspective, there is a lot of language in the play and some innuendo. There are some scenes that would probably make good classroom exercises, and at least 1 solid monologue.
March 1, 2023
I was excited to read a story about a fat woman, as I am a fat woman who has rarely seen myself represented and, while I think this story is told honestly (in that everyone hates on the fat woman relentlessly, despite the fact that she seems a decent enough person), I was underwhelmed by the time I finished.
I didn't feel like I knew any of the characters--or that there was even anything to know about them--even the main characters just exist as plot devices. I wasn't at all emotionally invested in this play and most of the time felt neutral to disgusted.
It's a shame because it is an interesting story concept that I think many people (including myself) could relate to if done properly. Our culture hates fatness, makes fat people the butt end of every joke, and makes it incredibly difficult for fat people to be treated with basic decency, let alone to love and be loved. But this story doesn't do anything with any of that. It all just happens .
You know how in high school teachers taught you to write the what and then the 'why your audience should care?' I feel like this play has the former, but the latter is fuzzy, if not entirely absent.
I didn't feel like I knew any of the characters--or that there was even anything to know about them--even the main characters just exist as plot devices. I wasn't at all emotionally invested in this play and most of the time felt neutral to disgusted.
It's a shame because it is an interesting story concept that I think many people (including myself) could relate to if done properly. Our culture hates fatness, makes fat people the butt end of every joke, and makes it incredibly difficult for fat people to be treated with basic decency, let alone to love and be loved. But this story doesn't do anything with any of that. It all just happens .
You know how in high school teachers taught you to write the what and then the 'why your audience should care?' I feel like this play has the former, but the latter is fuzzy, if not entirely absent.
March 22, 2020
I surprised myself by liking this play. I thought that after having seen a scene from it, I wouldn't be the biggest fan but I really like Neil LaBute's writing style, this is the second play of his I have read and I really really enjoy it.
I wasn't a big fan of many characters in this play but the two main leads I think are very well written and would be beautiful to see done but two vulnerable actors willing to take on this kind of material.
I doubt this play would be for everyone but I think LaBute poured some of his own struggle into the words in this play and they comes across as real and truthful and not staged or overly crafted as some 'good' plays tend to be.
It was a very quick read but it contained mountains of things to mime character wise and I think anyone who likes theatre or who is a part of the theatre world should be reading more Labute!
I wasn't a big fan of many characters in this play but the two main leads I think are very well written and would be beautiful to see done but two vulnerable actors willing to take on this kind of material.
I doubt this play would be for everyone but I think LaBute poured some of his own struggle into the words in this play and they comes across as real and truthful and not staged or overly crafted as some 'good' plays tend to be.
It was a very quick read but it contained mountains of things to mime character wise and I think anyone who likes theatre or who is a part of the theatre world should be reading more Labute!
June 1, 2025
I wasn’t very fond of this play. My acting class had done a few scenes from it, so I was really interested in how the whole entire play would be. But in the end, it just seemed very choppy and I was very confused by the time jumps and it just wasn’t the best play in the world. I liked the message of not judging people based on their weight and that everyone is capable of love. But the ending irked me. It truly irritated me how the whole entire play the main character is so in love with this girl, but doesn’t talk about her to other people. Then in the ending, he doesn’t realize his wrong ways and introduce her to his coworkers and instead lets what other people say to him affect him? But I guess that is life, so it’s not the worst ending in the world. I just think I’d prefer a happier ending after all that happened. Or at least a little resolve. There wasn’t really a climax or anything, and the ending was just there. It went “I’m breaking up with you” and then nothing. No reaction from the girl. Nothing. The ending just left me wanting so much more but not in a good way.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 9, 2018
Does this play still apply? With the overflowing sentiments for healthy eating and self love sometimes in the form of workout clothes and detox receipts on Pinterest, I think LaBute’s work can still function a decade after being published.
At first, I was hard set against this play. Both Carter and Jeannie didn’t seem realistic and Helen seemed to be so destructively making jokes about her weight. As the play progressed, more believability sunk in. Carter’s relationship with his mother. The way Jeannie finally confronted Tom.
The underlying turmoil of the human dilemma leaves the reader finding the moments within their own lives when they as weak as Tom.
At first, I was hard set against this play. Both Carter and Jeannie didn’t seem realistic and Helen seemed to be so destructively making jokes about her weight. As the play progressed, more believability sunk in. Carter’s relationship with his mother. The way Jeannie finally confronted Tom.
The underlying turmoil of the human dilemma leaves the reader finding the moments within their own lives when they as weak as Tom.
July 6, 2024
this play is like pointless-to-ever-produce again levels of both bad and out of touch. like this is very much a play about how much neil labute hates his own body, of course, but i just think it's so goddamn Pointless to even think about staging it in 2024 and beyond, which i Do think needs to be the metric by which you measure basically any theatrical works you read. it's like "what if a play was necessarily a period piece because society didn't hold up like this At All. what if you had to make a play a period piece because no one would ever believe that in the current year a group of people could be such tremendous pieces of shit."
ungood.
ungood.
March 7, 2025
I liked this book a lot, but I do not know how to feel about the ending. On the one hand, the entire play is well written, including the ending. On the other hand, the fact that the main couple breaks up because the guy can't handle the societal pressure of being with a large woman, despite loving her, breaks my heart (esp as a fat woman who is in a wonderful relationship with a skinny guy).
Back when it was written, the judgement of a hot guy dating a bigger woman was a lot more negative and intense.
Again, this play is well written, but my personal preferences and insecurities can't let me give it a 5 star rating.
Back when it was written, the judgement of a hot guy dating a bigger woman was a lot more negative and intense.
Again, this play is well written, but my personal preferences and insecurities can't let me give it a 5 star rating.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 20, 2026
An unlikeable protagonist
Theme centers on conformity to immoral societal standards in order to be “liked”.
Unfavorably, aspects of yourself may be realized in any of the quite unlikable characters since envy, hate and self-critique are the darker side of humanity.
This short play serves as an acknowledgment to how you have the potential to live a more beautiful and fulfilling life by going against the grain of peer pressure and expectations.
It’s within all of us.
Unfortunately, the protagonist gave up and held onto the comfort he felt. It’s up to you to decide for yourself… will you choose conformity or risk it all for a life you’d trade nothing else for?
Theme centers on conformity to immoral societal standards in order to be “liked”.
Unfavorably, aspects of yourself may be realized in any of the quite unlikable characters since envy, hate and self-critique are the darker side of humanity.
This short play serves as an acknowledgment to how you have the potential to live a more beautiful and fulfilling life by going against the grain of peer pressure and expectations.
It’s within all of us.
Unfortunately, the protagonist gave up and held onto the comfort he felt. It’s up to you to decide for yourself… will you choose conformity or risk it all for a life you’d trade nothing else for?
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