Roz and I went to see dramatic theatre at the Studio Theatre last night. She invited me, or should I say encouraged me, to see the play "Fat Pig" with her.
Synopsis: A young white healthy professional male (Tom) meets up with young white, heavyset female librarian Helen, or as the actors teased, "a printed word specialist."
She invites him to her table at a crowded dining hall, after hearing what she thinks is a rude comment. He apologetically clarifies his statement, and they start talking. As the chatter becomes more intimate, he shows interest in her as she dazzles him with her conversational repertoire of self deprecating humor/fat jokes/jolliness. They go on dates and they eventually fall in love. He later encounters trouble dealing how the outside world, in particular his work place, thinks of him dating an obese woman.
Can you tell that it's a *dramedy*?
Although I found myself initially critiquing the performances at the beginning of the play, I later found myself enthralled with the character dialogues and conflicts. The writing was superb. I read good stuff about Neil Labute after Roz raved about him when she first described his work to me. He has written a number of plays and even directed a few movies.
In Fat Pig, you find yourself cringing at politically incorrect jokes at the expense of others, but you still laugh out loud. The actors were quite good, but I was taken aback with Kate Debelack's bold portrayal of Helen, the main female lead.
Even the Washington Post writes about her lead role.
That actress has guts to put herself out there in bathing suit and pajamas. She was able to express genuine toughness while still able to hold back the underlying tension and fear of rejection.
I think no matter who the person is, even those with perfect physical appearances, that person will be concerned about how others think about them. Sometimes they will feel much more self conscious than the average person.
Another great performance in the play comes from Jason Odell Williams. He portrays Tom's jerk co-worker and supposed friend Carter. His direct candor makes him look like a jerk, but the words spoken were so unfortunately true about American culture (or perceptions), or should I say obsessions, with weight and body type. His comic timing was quite good. I enjoyed the play with those two actors alone, but it's the playwright's words that have you re-thinking about your own self perceptions on beauty and perfection.
Even the simple stage setting and minimalist furniture design matches with or adds to the tone of the play.
Is there a happy ending to it? Let's say that the play ends in a realistic manner. The question is whether love is truly enough. Ultimately, it was such an enjoyable play.
Before meeting up with Roz in the theatre lobby, I stopped by the Thai Tanic restaurant for a quick dinner before the show. The waitress recommended a typical Pad Thai dish. I told her that I was in a rush to get to a show. It was merely 10 minutes before the food arrived. It looked pleasant enough. After a couple bites and a couple squeezes of lime over the noodles, I was a slightly disappointed with the flavor. There was hardly any flavor. I don't think I'm going to return for another meal, although it has received decent reviews.
Instead, I think I should have stopped by the Caribou Coffee place for a quick snack and drink.
As soon as I finally arrived at the theatre, it was a great delight to meet an older woman named Joan who volunteered as a Studio Theatre staff member. We hit it off instantly as we got into conversation about the dramatic arts, New York, especially Manhattan, our comparison of acting experiences, some history about DC theatre, famous actors raised here in the local area, and the lack of good theatre parts in the DC area.
That was quite a bit of discussion packed in 20 minutes.
11"I'm baptizing you here in the river,
Technorati tags: Neil Labute; obesity; DC theatre
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