Fat Pig
Encyclopedia
Plot synopsis
Fat Pig tells us the story of Tom, a stereotypical professional in a large city, who falls for a very plus-size librarian named Helen. They meet in a crowded cafeteria at lunchtime and get to talking. Tom is taken with her brash acceptance of the way people see her and her honesty. He asks her for her number and they start to date. A couple of weeks later, Carter, Tom’s best friend, starts to notice the signs of Tom having a new girlfriend. He obnoxiously pesters him for information about the new girl and in order to get it mentions it in front of a woman from accounting, Jeannie, who has been seeing Tom on-and-off for a while. She gets very upset which gets Tom to admit that he is “sort of” seeing her. Carter asks Tom what he is doing that night, and Tom says he is busy. Carter knows then that he is meeting Helen at a restaurant Tom frequents, Tom denies it and says it is a business dinner with people from the Chicago branch of their firm. Carter, not believing him, stops by the restaurant and sees them together. He approaches them and introduces himself to Helen, and she excuses herself to go to the restroom. While she is gone Carter thoroughly insults her weight and calling her a lot of horrible things, not knowing that this is Tom’s new girlfriend. He assumes then that Tom was telling the truth about the people coming in from Chicago, since he thought that Tom would never date anyone that “fat”.Later that week Jeannie pays a visit to Tom in his office. She has found out that no people from Chicago came to visit. She demands to know what is going on with him and her and he says that he is not interested and will never be again. Earlier, she and Carter had been gossiping about the “fat cow from Chicago,” which is how Jeannie found out about the whole thing. So once Tom says that it wasn’t a business dinner, she flips out and smacks him, hurt that he would pick someone like Helen over her. Carter looks on and sort of apologizes for being rude about Helen, saying that he didn’t know she was his girlfriend. He asks to see a picture and after a lot of pestering gets one from Tom. He then proceeds to run down the hall and show everyone. Throughout the rest of the play, Carter tries to convince Tom that he should “stick to his own kind.”
Meanwhile Tom and Helen are falling more and more in love. Helen is offered a better job in another town but she doesn’t want to leave Tom. She asks if she can meet his friends, when he is hesitant, she knows that he is ashamed of her. But not wanting to give her that impression he tells her that she will meet his friends when they have a work barbecue
Barbecue
Barbecue or barbeque , used chiefly in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia is a method and apparatus for cooking meat, poultry and occasionally fish with the heat and hot smoke of a fire, smoking wood, or hot coals of...
on the beach. The day arrives for the outing, but once they get there they are secluded from everyone. Helen brings up her concerns and gives him an ultimatum, either accept all of her and that includes defending her to his friends, or this cannot work. He replies that he cannot handle it and that
she should take the job in the other town and both are left broken hearted.
Character guide
- Tom- The plot's protagonist. Late 20s to early 30s, he is a stereotypical man for his age group, until he meets Helen, who he subsequently falls in love with.
- Helen- A quite heavy, though self-confident librarian. She becomes Tom's love interest and the catalyst for his change of view.
- Carter- Tom's closest friend at the office. Carter represents the narcissistic and shallow qualities that Tom is trying to overcome. Carter is the consumate antagonizer.
- Jeannie- Another co-worker at Tom's unnamed office firm. She and Tom used to date, but Tom was never fully committed to the relationship. Jeannie's self-confidence is damaged because Tom dumps her for a "fat girl".
Labute provides very few details about the specifics of the characters' lives, beside from the fact that they all work and are in approximately the same age group.
Off-Broadway premiere
Opened on November 17, 2004 Off-Broadway at the MCC TheaterMCC Theater
MCC Theater is an Off-Broadway theater company located in New York City, founded in 1986 by artistic directors Robert LuPone and Bernard Telsey along with six graduates of the New York University drama department, including Jana Herzen...
in New York City and directed by Jo Bonney. Cast was as follows: Ashlie Atkinson
Ashlie Atkinson
Ashlie Atkinson is an American stage, film, and television actress.-Background:Atkinson was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. She moved to New York at age 17 and attended Barnard College...
(Helen), Andrew McCarthy
Andrew McCarthy
Andrew Thomas McCarthy is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the 1980s films St. Elmo's Fire, Mannequin, Weekend at Bernie's, Pretty in Pink, and Less Than Zero, and more recently for his role in the television shows Lipstick Jungle, White Collar and Royal Pains.-Career:McCarthy...
(Carter), Jeremy Piven
Jeremy Piven
Jeremy Samuel Piven is an American film producer and actor best known for his role as Ari Gold in the television series Entourage for which he has won three Emmy Awards as well as several other nominations for Best Supporting Actor....
(Tom), Keri Russell
Keri Russell
Keri Lynn Russell is an American actress and dancer. After appearing in a number of made-for-television films and series during the mid-1990s, she came to fame for portraying the title role of Felicity Porter on the series Felicity, which ran from 1998 to 2002, and for which she won a Golden Globe...
(Jeannie). This production was hailed as a provocative comedy that made the audience think. David Amsden said in New York Magazine,
“You emerge from his plays either praising him for the metaphoric slap in the face or simply wishing you knew where he lived, so you can hunt down the bastard and deliver a literal slap of your own. The guy is doing something right, in short.... His cruel wit and chronicles of immoral moralizers have made him, arguably, the most legitimately provocative and polarizing playwright at work today.”
Labute Festival 2006
The play was showcased during the Labute Festival at the Studio Theatre in Washington D.C. The play featured Tyler PierceTyler Pierce
Tyler Pierce is an American actor. Pierce has acted in plays on and off Broadway, including a starring role in the play Fat Pig written by Neil LaBute. He has also acted abroad in Dublin, Ireland and England. Pierce has appeared in independent films and soap operas...
as Tom, and Kate Debelack who played the role of Helen.
2007 West Coast premiere production
The play made its West Coast and true first Bay Area production in San Jose, at City Lights Theatre Company of San Jose, under the direction of Tom Gough, its former Artistic Director. It held a successful run, opening from January 25, 2007, to February 25, 2007, and received high praise.2007 Boston production
The play made its New EnglandNew England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
debut in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
from March 16, 2007 to April 7, 2007 at the Boston Center for the Arts
Boston Center for the Arts
The Boston Center for the Arts is a 501 nonprofit visual and performing arts complex in the South End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The BCA houses several performance and rehearsal spaces, restaurants, a gallery, the headquarters of the Boston Ballet, the Community Music Center of Boston...
by the SpeakEasy Stage Company. The cast included James Ryen(Tom), Liliane Klein
Liliane Klein
Liliane Klein is an American theatre and television actress, singer, and plus-size model.Klein was born in New Hyde Park, Long Island, New York. She graduated from Boston University College of Fine Arts, School of Theatre Arts in 2002 with her BFA in Acting, cum laude...
(Helen), Michael Daniel Anderson (Carter), and Laura Latreille (Jeannie).
2007 Los Angeles production
The Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
premiere was May 11, 2007 at the Geffen Playhouse
Geffen Playhouse
The Geffen Playhouse is a not for profit performing arts theater in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Originally named the Westwood Playhouse, UCLA purchased the property in 1993. UCLA's then chancellor, Charles E. Young, appointed Gil Cates Producing Director...
's Audrey Skirball-Kenis
Audrey Skirball-Kenis
Audrey Skirball-Kenis was a noted American philanthropist.-Early years:Audrey Skirball-Kenis was born Audrey Marx in Alabama in 1915, daughter of Otto Marx, Sr., and Agnes Mosler Marx...
Theater, with a cast including Kirsten Vangsness
Kirsten Vangsness
Kirsten Simone Vangsness is an American actress. She graduated from Cerritos High School in Cerritos, California in June 1990. She is currently appearing on the CBS drama series Criminal Minds as FBI Technical Analyst Penelope Garcia...
as Helen, Scott Wolf
Scott Wolf
Scott Richard Wolf is an American actor, known for his roles on the television series Party of Five as Bailey Salinger and on Everwood as Dr. Jake Hartman. Since 2009, he has appeared in the Sci-Fi series V as the morally ambiguous journalist, Chad Decker.-Early life:Wolf was born in Boston,...
as Tom, Chris Pine
Chris Pine
Christopher Whitelaw "Chris" Pine is an American actor. He has appeared in the romantic comedies The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement and Just My Luck , as well as the action films Smokin' Aces and Unstoppable . In 2009, he portrayed James T...
as Carter, and Andrea Anders as Jeannie. The play, originally scheduled to run until June 10, 2007, was extended to July 1, 2007, with a new cast - original New York cast member Ashlie Atkinson
Ashlie Atkinson
Ashlie Atkinson is an American stage, film, and television actress.-Background:Atkinson was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. She moved to New York at age 17 and attended Barnard College...
as Helen, Joe Sikora as Tom, Jon Bernthal
Jon Bernthal
Jonathan E. "Jon" Bernthal is an American actor, best known for his role on the AMC television series The Walking Dead.-Early life:...
as Carter, and Jamie Ray Newman as Jeannie.
2008 London production
Its United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
premiere runs from 27 May 2008 at the Trafalgar Studios
Trafalgar Studios
Trafalgar Studios, formerly The Whitehall Theatre until 2004, is a West End theatre in Whitehall, near Trafalgar Square, in the City of Westminster, London....
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, with a cast including Ella Smith
Ella Smith (actress)
Ella Smith is a Welsh actress. She trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art and is a former member of the National Youth Theatre....
as Helen, Robert Webb
Robert Webb (actor)
Robert Webb is an English actor, comedian and writer, and one half of the double act Mitchell and Webb, alongside David Mitchell.-Early life:...
as Tom, Kris Marshall
Kris Marshall
Kristopher "Kris" Marshall is an English actor, best known for his role as Nick Harper in My Family, and as Adam in the adverts for BT Group since 2005.-Career:...
as Carter and Joanna Page
Joanna Page
Joanna Louise Page is a Welsh actress, best known for playing Stacey in the television series, Gavin and Stacey.-Early and personal life:...
as Jeannie.
In August it was announced that both Marshall and Webb would be stepping down from their roles and be replaced by Kevin Bishop
Kevin Bishop
Kevin Bishop is an English actor and comedian, best known for his own programme, The Kevin Bishop Show, which he co-writes with Lee Hupfield, and the role of Jim Hawkins in Muppet Treasure Island.-Life and career:...
and Nicholas Burns, respectively. Also announced later in the same month was that Page would be stepping down from her role and would be replaced by Kelly Brook
Kelly Brook
Kelly Brook is an English model, actress, entrepreneur, television presenter and Playboy model.-Early life:...
in October 2008.
On September 11, 2008, the play was shown at the Comedy Theatre.
2009 Colombian production
The ColombiaColombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
premiere was March, 31 at the Teatro Nacional La Castellana in Bogota, with the cast Constanza Hernández as Helena, Fabián Mendoza as Tommy, Tatiana Rentería as Julia and Juan Sebastián Aragón. Directed by Mario Morgan. http://www.teatronacional.com.co/
2009 Berkeley/East Bay Area production
The play made its East Bay Area premiere in Berkeley, CA at the Aurora Theatre CompanyAurora Theatre Company
Aurora Theatre Company is a professional theatre company located in Berkeley, CA.The company was founded in 1992 with the desire to continue to produce plays "about something important; ideas mediated by language and people, which are assisted by other elements like sets, lights and costumes," not...
. Previews began on October 30, 2009 and opening night was November 5, 2009. The play was directed by Barbara Damashek and featured Boston cast member Liliane Klein
Liliane Klein
Liliane Klein is an American theatre and television actress, singer, and plus-size model.Klein was born in New Hyde Park, Long Island, New York. She graduated from Boston University College of Fine Arts, School of Theatre Arts in 2002 with her BFA in Acting, cum laude...
as Helen, Jud Williford as Tom, Peter Ruocco
Peter Ruocco
Peter Thomas Ruocco, also known as Peter Ruocco, is an American film actor, theatre actor, and theatre director based in San Francisco, California.-Biography:...
as Carter, and Alexandra Creighton as Jeannie. Originally scheduled to run through December 6, 2009, the play was extended 1 week through December 13, 2009.
The production was hailed by SF Chronicle drama critic Robert Hurwitt "This is LaBute at the best of his bad-boy sensitive mode". Arielle Little said in The Daily Californian
The Daily Californian
The Daily Californian is an independent, student-run newspaper that serves the University of California, Berkeley campus and its surrounding community. It is published Monday through Friday during the academic year, and twice a week during the summer...
“Playwright Neil LaBute's "Fat Pig"... is an alternately rude and heartwarming play laced with sweet moments, insults and profanity. It is an all-out assault at the image-obsessed, morally craven culture that the current generation constantly is bombarded with and often embraces. And it is so good it is almost painful to watch. It is, in short, the type of theater we need to be seeing.”
2010 Philadelphia production
Theatre Horizon produced the play April 9 - May 1, 2010. It was directed by Matthew Decker and featured Ed Renninger as Tom, Melissa Joy Hart as Helen, Paul Felder as Carter and Erin Mulgrew as Jeannie.2010 Mexico City production
The show is currently, as of April 2010, being staged in Mexico City at the Teatro Fernando Soler, in Spanish, with the title "Gorda" (literally, 'fat woman'). The play is set in Mexico.2010 São Paulo production
The show is being staged in São Paulo at Teatro Procópio Ferreira. It premiered in the four of March 2010 and it's being stagged until the end of May. The play is titled "Gorda" (literally 'Fat Woman'). It is directed by the Argentinian Daniel Veronese, which also stagged this version of the play for two years in Buenos Aires, ArgentinaThe play is set in Brasil, with the characters names adapted accordingly. Helen (played by Fabiana Karla) became Helena, Tom became Tony (played by Michel Bercovitch, nominated for the Shell award for his performance in this play). Carter, played by Mouhamed Harchouf became Caco and Jeannie became Joana played by Flávia Rubim. This same play was previously presented in Rio de Janeiro with the same cast.
2010 Hong Kong Production (Asia Premiere)
The show would be played at Hong Kong Cultural CentreHong Kong Cultural Centre
The Hong Kong Cultural Centre is a multipurpose performance facility in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Hong Kong. Located at Salisbury Road, it was founded by the former Urban Council and, after 2000, is administered by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of Hong Kong Government...
Studio from August 20, 2010 to August 29, 2010 as Asia Premiere, with the play being translated by Chong Mui-Ngam and directed by Wong Long-Bun. 4 young local actors being as main casts.
2011 Broadway production
Josh HamiltonJosh Hamilton (actor)
Josh C. Hamilton is an American actor.Hamilton was born in New York City, New York. His father is actor Dan Hamilton, and his stepmother is actress Stephanie Braxton...
, as Tom, Dane Cook
Dane Cook
Dane Jeffrey Cook is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He has released five comedy albums: Harmful If Swallowed; Retaliation; Vicious Circle; Rough Around The Edges: Live From Madison Square Garden; and Isolated Incident. In 2006, Retaliation became the highest charting comedy album...
as Carter, and Julia Stiles
Julia Stiles
Julia O'Hara Stiles is an American actress.After beginning her career in small parts in a New York City theatre troupe, she has moved on to leading roles in plays by writers as diverse as William Shakespeare and David Mamet...
as Jeannie were scheduled to star in a production at the Belasco Theatre
Belasco Theatre
The Belasco Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 111 West 44th Street in midtown-Manhattan.-History:Designed by architect George Keister for impresario David Belasco, the interior featured Tiffany lighting and ceiling panels, rich woodwork and expansive murals by American artist...
on April 12, 2011 in previews and officially on April 26, 2011. This would have marked the Broadway directorial debut of Labute as well.
However, before the show began it was postponed for financial reasons, with intent to reschedule it for the 2011-12 season instead.
Awards and nominations
- Winner of the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play in 2005
- Nominated for Laurence Olivier Awards for Best New Comedy in 2005
External links
- "Washington Post" Review of play
- CurtainUp Review
- Fat Pig at the "Trafalgar Studios"
- London Theatre Breaks Reviews and discussion of the London production.
- http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/theater/reviews/10737/
- http://www.shock.com.co/actualidad/arte/articuloshock-se-estrena-gorda-el-teatro-nacional