Helen and Tom meet at a crowded luncheon spot when she lets him share her table. She’s having three pieces of pizza and garlic bread and a couple desserts while he is having a chicken salad. She’s a full bodied woman while he is a lean, healthy looking stud. Tom finds himself enjoying Helen’s company once he gets used to her sense of humor; she often makes jokes about her size and weight. After they bond over pudding cups, he asks to see her again.
They start to date and even though Tom says he has no problem with Helen’s size, he tries hard to keep their relationship secret from his co-workers. Helen calls him on his behavior—always sitting in the back of restaurants when they dine out, always going into a movie once the lights have dimmed etc. Tom says he isn’t ashamed to be seen with her but his actions say otherwise. It’s a new type of relationship for Tom but Helen is used to being an object of derision and she accepts the limitations although she does call Tom out about them.
And so it goes in Neil LaBute’s 1994 play, Fat Pig, having a revival on the Hudson Theatres Mainstage. For the most part, the writing is very sharp and astute, creating multi-faceted characters and giving them interesting motivations and viewpoints. Tom really seems to care for Helen; he enjoys her and her body. Helen offers to undergo surgery to keep Tom but in the end peer pressure overpowers his decent tendencies and he breaks off the relationship. Jonathan Bray gives a nuanced performance as Tom, really gaining the audience’s good will. Deidra Edwards as Helen comes across as too much of a punching bag. It’s not really clear if Helen is just so accustomed to the fat prejudice directed at her, her mother always called her big boned, or if the actress just delivers too mild a performance.
Nick Stabile steals his every scene as Carter, Tom’s friend and co-worker. A real jokester, the character could come off as just smarmy and mean-spirited, but Stabile gives Carter a solid center. He really believes that the good looking deserve all the best life can offer and those not good looking don’t. He passionately conveys his outlook in two wonderfully written monologues. Kirsten Kollender doesn’t fare as well as Jeannie, Tom’s former office romance. The character is written as shallow and Kollender plays it even shallower. It’s the one wrong note in the production which has a very simple yet adaptable scenic design by Hazel Kuang and deft direction by Alexis Jacknow.
Hudson Mainstage Theatre, 6539 Santa Monica Blvd in Hollywood. Ends June 1. 323-960-7788 or www.plays411.com/fatpig
see previous review in Rob Stevens Archives