Theater review: FAT PIG

The performance left a mark. A big one.

Brandon Thibodeaux

Christina Vela and Regan Adair as Helen and Tom in FAT PIG

DALLAS — Dallas Theater Center's performance of FAT PIG is the second of The Beauty Plays, all written by Neil LaBute. The first, The Shape of Things (on stage through May 9), preyed upon the ironies of love. FAT PIG wasn't nearly so symbolic. A story about a “very plus size” woman, FAT PIG lays it all out there: It isn't socially acceptable for a skinny, fit guy to date an overweight woman. And what ensues is a heartbreaking tale of love destined to fail.

Helen, the overweight woman, is played magically by Christina Vela. She's got a twinkle in her eye from the moment she meets Tom (Regan Adair), a straightlaced guy in a high-powered job. Their awkward first meeting, where Tom accidentally makes all sorts of jokes about food and weight, roll right off Helen, who has come to laugh at herself. She even makes all sorts of over-the-top jokes about her weight to prove she's comfortable with her body. But from the minute Tom is afraid to introduce her to his coworkers, they both know he's embarrassed of her.

The script is painfully honest. Writer LaBute doesn't dance around the issue of weight as a burden on a relationship. No, he skewers it, pens in the F word a few times, and labels Helen “fat pig.”

Helen and Tom's new relationship is especially troubling for Jeanine (Aleisha Force), a pretty and thin accountant who used to date Tom until Helen came along. She makes us question the morale behind an all-too-common reaction: That it is more insulting to be dumped if the new woman isn't skinny. Jeanine later begins to date Tom's d-bag coworker, Carter (Steven Walters). The two of them say horrible things about Helen's size as if it has everything to do with her personality and personal success. They say things we hope no one ever says in real life, but we know that's not true.

Brandon Thibodeaux

When they're alone, everything is OK. It's when they venture outside of her apartment that Tom starts to get uncomfortable.

Director Kevin Moriarty did well with the small stage size, converting Tom's spacious office into a living room by making the desk into a kitchen table and the leather office furniture into a couch. Watching the characters make good use of the floor was also fun -- perhaps one of the few fun things about the play.

As Helen and Tom grow closer while they're alone, Tom continues to have trouble facing the outside world with his plus-size girlfriend, even selecting a special place for he and a bathing-suited Helen far away from their friends at a company beach party.

Carter, irreverent as ever, gives his “friend” Tom some hard advice: "Noah didn't pair up the apes with the antelope, right? ... Run with your own kind."

The message behind the play is painful. Whether LaBute was trying to change our thinking or simply point out human error, the performance left its mark. A big one.