Aurora’s ‘Fat Pig’ tackles superficiality of society
By: Jean Schiffman
Special to The Examiner
November 18, 2009
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| Unlikely couple: Jud Williford and Liliane Klein appear in Aurora Theatre Co.’s production of Neil LaBute’s “Fat Pig,” a play about how Americans view body image. (Courtesy photo) |
SAN FRANCISCO — When the opening night of Aurora Theatre Co.’s production of Neil LaBute’s four-hander “Fat Pig” ended, the man next to me said, “Would you want to be friends with any of those people?”
Well, no. But that’s not the problem with LaBute’s occasionally poignant, occasionally discomfiting comedy — engagingly directed by Barbara Damashek — about the morally suspect values our society places on body image.
When handsome Tom (played with captivating charm by Jud Williford) meets Helen, he’s smitten. Helen’s fat, but she insists she’s OK with her body. Tom says he doesn’t care about her weight.
She’s unconvinced, though. He doesn’t seem to be introducing her to his friends. The play hinges on whether or not Tom will be true to his own better self, the part of him that loves Helen unconditionally.
Tom’s under the influence of two co-workers: malicious prankster Carter (a deliciously obnoxious turn by Peter Ruocco) and Jeannie, a bitch on wheels in accounting (a convincingly bitter Alexandra Creighton).
But what confuses the purity of LaBute’s examination of our lowliest impulses is that Carter is Tom’s friend, and Jeannie is Tom’s dumped ex-girlfriend. She’s out-of-control vindictive, and Carter’s a downright nasty piece of work.
So why is nice guy Tom friends with Carter? “You do that little boy thing ... but you’re just like me,” sly Carter tells him.
That’s a provocative thread, but LaBute doesn’t really follow it. All we see is a bumbling, ambivalent Tom who can’t rise above his milieu. As for Jeannie — hell hath no fury, etc., but how could these two ever have been a couple?
More problematic, what does Tom see in Helen? At least as played by Liliane Klein, Helen has a grating laugh, a fixed smile, and a weird and unrealistic way of continually gazing searchingly into Tom’s face.
We’re meant to see her as witty and funny, but LaBute gives Helen little of interest to say. The only thing she and Tom have in common is a penchant for old war movies. It’s not enough.
Equally problematic: Although Williford is brilliant at conveying Tom’s ambivalent dither, LaBute doesn’t really show us his inner workings. He and the other characters remain essentially the same throughout. So when the play ends, there’s no sense of a meaningful journey taken — not for the characters, and not for us.
THEATER REVIEW
Fat Pig
Where: Aurora Theatre Co., 2081 Addison St., Berkeley
When: 7 p.m. Tuesdays; 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays; closes Dec. 13
Tickets: $15 to $55
Contact: (510) 843-4822, www.auroratheatre.org
