The trio of plays are connected not by characters or plot but by the recurring theme of body image within American society. Reasons to Be Pretty premiered on Broadway in Steph is the central argument of the play. Throughout the story, she is furious. She feels emotionally wounded by her boyfriend—who believes that her face is "regular" which she views as a way of saying that she is not beautiful.
Greg, the protagonist, spends most of his life trying to explain his misunderstood intentions to others. Like other leading men in Neil LaBute plays, he is far more affable than the male supporting characters who are always foul-mouthed jerks. In spite of his low-key, eager-to-remain-calm personality, Greg somehow evokes anger from the rest of the characters.
Kent is the obnoxious jerk character we were just talking about. He is crude, down-to-earth, and believes that his life is better than perfect. He not only has a good-looking wife, but he's also tangled in a work-related affair. Carly is the wife of Kent and the best friend of Stephanie.
She sets the conflict in motion, spreading gossip about Greg's supposedly true feelings. In Scene One, Steph is very angry because her boyfriend Greg supposedly said something derogatory about her physical appearance. After a heated argument, Greg explains he and his friend Kent had a conversation in Kent's garage.
Kent had mentioned that the newly hired woman at their workplace was "hot. Maybe Steph's face is just regular. But I wouldn't trade her for a million bucks.
After his admission, Steph storms out of the room. Greg hangs out with Kent, recounting his fight with Stephanie. During their conversation, Kent chastises him about eating an energy bar directly after a meal, claiming that Greg will get fat. Kent goes into the bathroom. Kent's wife Carly arrives. Carly is in law enforcement. She is the one who gossiped to Steph about Greg's conversation, regarding her "regular face. Carly harshly criticizes Greg, detailing how upset Steph has become, reacting to his insensitive words.
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A chance encounter between Greg and Steph in a restaurant lobby is full of recrimination and suppressed longing.
And LaBute explores his favourite theme of our endless capacity for manipulation in a brilliant scene where Carly tries to get the truth out of Greg about the affair she guesses her husband is having. Power, even more than beauty, is LaBute's real concern as he here perfectly demonstrates. This emerges clearly in Michael Attenborough's production which is swift, nuanced and precise.
Tom Burke also dominates proceedings as Greg by the simple device of keeping his head when all around are losing theirs; yet the marvel of the performance is Burke's suggestion that his ironic cool conceals a badly damaged heart. Sian Brooke as his lover slowly enlists our sympathy by indicating that she too is emotionally wounded.
Billie Piper is also highly impressive in her gradual revelation of the security guard's fundamental insecurity, and Kieran Bew is memorably odious as the macho Kent. The play may not possess the visceral shock-value of previous LaBute work but it has more humanity and confirms the validity of Bacon's observation that: "There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.
Reasons to be Pretty — review.
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