Reasons To Be Pretty

Written by Neil LaBute

Directed by Terry Kinney

Lyceum Theatre

149 West 45th Street

212-239-6200

 

Review by Scott Harrah

 

Ugly Break-up: Thomas Sadoski and Marin Ireland look for reasons to be pretty in LaBute's Broadway debut.

 

Playwright Neil LaBute is one of the most controversial, prolific voices in modern American theater, much like David Mamet was 20 years ago. Reasons to be pretty, which was a hit off-Broadway last year, is the final installment in his of trilogy of plays that began with The Shape of Things and Fat Pig. It is his most unpleasant but provocative work to date.

 

The story opens with a vicious argument between Steph (the marvelous Marin Ireland) and boyfriend Greg (Thomas Sadoski) over a comment he made about her looks. Although Steph and Greg speak in a rapid-fire, staccato dialogue that’s sometimes difficult to comprehend, it sets a grim tone for the rest of the play and shows just how frustrated these characters are.

 

Greg works in a factory and tries to get over his split with Steph by reading books by Poe and Hawthorne and planning to go back to school. While he tries to move on, he must contend with the reprehensible behavior of his best friend and coworker, Kent (Steven Pasquale). Kent is a typical LaBute character, a testosterone-fueled brute of a man determined to get what he wants at the expense of others, and Stephen Pasquale brilliantly portrays every vile aspect of Kent’s twisted psyche. Kent is married to Steph’s best friend, Carly (Piper Perabo) and confides in Greg about an extramarital affair he’s having with a coworker. The seemingly harmless male bonding eventually leads to their self-destruction.

 

Terry Kinney directs the four-character ensemble with appropriate edginess, making each scene tense, raw, and often difficult to watch. Reasons to be pretty is more a tale of working-class male angst and the brutal disintegration of romance and friendships than an exploration of men’s perceptions of women and their bodies.

 

LaBute’s forte as a playwright is his insightful ability to dissect the shortcomings of men, with a feminist subtext that shows how heterosexual males cannot cope without women. With the exception of Greg, played with wonderful naturalism by Sadoski, the characters are not always likable, but LaBute amplifies their flaws and shows that there is nothing pretty about real-life relationships when they come to an end.