Fat Pig - Lessons Learned From the Play

First thing that was great about this play - very simple structure, basically a collection of vignettes that very clearly illustrate the beginning, middle and end of a relationship. Also, because the scenes with Tom (the male lead) are largely divided into scenes ABOUT his relationship and scenes OF his relationship, we get a sense of his interior life and what's happening in his head without having to be overly expositional.

Written by Neil Labute

Like, when he breaks up with Helen, there's been almost no argument between them, but because we've seen what he's going through at work about dating a fat girl, we totally understand why he's doing it. EVEN THOUGH, all he's done at work is defend her.

It's a great way of demonstrating a character's thought process without ever discussing it, and showing how outside opinions can so deeply sway how people behave, even when they pretend not to care.

Another thing that was great was how obviously Tom and Helen got along from the very first moment. They had chemistry, they felt real, they were funny. Whenever they were on stage together, I felt like I could watch them forever. Which also makes the eventual demise of their relationship for superficial reasons more heartbreaking -- because LaBute has pointed out how perfect they are together.

I thought that pauses were also used very well in this play, or a character's silence in a certain moment. The way conversation lulled, or the way one character might interpret another character's lack of response (like when Helen tells Tom she'd lose weight for him), was always very meaningful and very well-placed. Something to consider, letting people just sit with each other for a few beats. Sometimes to change tracks, sometimes to just dig deeper into their existing conflict.

I thought the breakup was also well-orchestrated, obviously a conversation between two people having difficulty expressing themselves and perhaps acting against their own feelings. Helen doesn't want to lose weight but she also doesn't want to lose Tom, so her whole offer to change for him is really moving but also awkward and tough for her to say and tough for us to hear. Then, when he dumps her anyway, that's also awkward and ugly and just, really terrible but somehow still human because in the process of breaking Helen's heart, Tom is basically just confessing that he WON'T CHANGE. So it's a really interesting juxtaposition to end the play, and it doesn't offer a ton of closure which I think is something we should definitely be willing to allow in our own writing.

Finally, I think it was liberating to see how LaBute made the work friend/ ex-lover just unabashedly terrible. They weren't pretending to dislike Helen or judge her for any reason other than her looks, which cuts through the bullshit of passive aggression and just gets to the meat of the debate: can a shallow, materialistic young guy be in a lasting relationship with a woman who's perceived to be less attractive than him? Because no one beats around the bush, the conversations always felt alive and challenging and uncomfortable. Someone reviewing it said it would make you squirm, and I liked that. I think we can be okay making people squirm.