In his newest play, "Filthy Talk for Troubled Times," Neil LaBute is taking on American culture's pervasive intolerance of... just about everything it seems.
The play, in LaBute fashion, is not likely to make all you sexist bigots feel good about yourselves, but don't worry, you're in good company: Apparently not even Frank "f---ing" Sinatra has been spared.
Sure, you could argue that his writing is offensive, but then again, he seems to ask, what is more offensive than reality? And LaBute is no stranger to, nor does he shy away from controversy. One of his first plays, "Bash: Latter-Day Plays," alienated him from his own religion (the parting was mutual, no doubt) and he is widely considered to be a misogynist thanks to plays like "Fat Pig" (about an overweight woman) and "In the Company of Men," which contains such gems as, “Women. Nice ones, the most frigid of the race—it doesn’t matter in the end. Inside, they’re all the same: Meat and gristle and hatred, just simmering.”
After the 2009 success of "Reasons to Be Pretty" (the third play to address body issues --including aforementioned "Fat Pig" and also "The Shape of Things"), which went on to Broadway and was nominated for three Tonys including Best Play, the director and playwright is back with the MCC Theater group at the Lucille Lortel theater in the West Village where "Reasons" had it start and where LaBute is resident playwright. The three-performance-only run is a benefit for the MCC's Playwrights' Coalition program and PlayLab reading series.
For fans of LaBute, this weekend run may seem like a tease, but look forward to the fall season at Lortel where another one of his plays, "The Break of Noon" is already on the program.
Tickets for "Filthy Talk" go on sale May 12.
When: June 3, 4, and 5 at 7:00 p.m.
Where: Lucille Lortel Theater, 121 Christopher Street
