Neil LaBute

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 show more 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. show less

Brutal and brilliant character study. It would be a painful play to see - but maybe it wouldn't mean much to people too young to really have experienced September 11th or those that were far removed from the attacks. Living just outside of the city and getting a message from my girlfriend that a plane crashed into one of the towers (her not knowing specifics - thinking it was a little recreational plane) and then being at work as I heard another plane crashed and not being able to get hold show more of her for hours...yeah, I suppose a work like this will always get a reaction from me. Still, the characters weren't likeable, but they were brilliant. show less

Aged badly. Pre-fat acceptance movement, and just comes across as faintly didactic whilst also not quite wholly committing to what it wants to say. A mix of caricature (ex-girlfriend) and attempts at genuinely-sketched characters (protagonist) doesn't work together.

A depressing look at the emptiness of life in the modern world. The message is a bit distorted, however, by the extremeness of the individuals he uses to make his point. Two teenage boys drift through life, skipping classes and hanging out wherever they can think of to go in the effort to not be bored. Their story is interspersed with scenes from the family of one of the boys, as dysfunctional a family as you could want on stage. The action barely moves and is not compelling until suddenly show more leading up to a dramatic, tragic ending that is as breathtaking as it is unexpected. If the ending were excised, this would just be another dreary look at the hum drum life of working class boys who have no ambition and no scruples. Difficult to read because the author writes the dialogue as he wants it said, complete with dropped letters, words, etc. For a few lines in a novel, that can go. For an entire script, it becomes frustrating. show less