STORY STUDY - MEDIUM: THEATER The “Reasons” Trilogy
Friendships can last a lifetime. Relationships can last a lifetime. Either way, you’re going to get a headache. Even when you try to get of it, you can’t help but want to try again.
reasons to be pretty, Reasons to be Happy, and Reasons to be Pretty Happy make up a trilogy of plays written by Neil Labute. They tell the story of four young people: Greg and Steph, and Carly and Kent.
pretty explores the concept of beauty, and why we find it so important, and how easily it can affect a relationship, usually for the worst. In the end, it doesn’t end well for either couple.
Happy brings back the four, older but probably not wise. Despite the pain that they’ve experienced with their respective partners, they are open to try again.
Pretty Happy finds the four at their 10-year high school anniversary. Time has past, and it’s clear that everyone’s behavior that drives each other insane is still present. It reaches a boiling point with their patience, but it’s clear they’re all just trying.
On the surface, especially in pretty, the play is intent on showing that men are awful. It’s a common theme in a majority of Labute’s work, at least his famous ones. Greg always says the wrong thing, and always says things so he can sound intelligent, but makes him sound annoying and pretentious instead. Kent is a jock… enough said. However, as the two sequels come around, it’s clear that Greg and Kent are pathetic, but they want are trying for their women.
Speaking of the women, are they innocent in all this. Carly, I think so, but Steph has anger issues. She gets called out on it, but that’s really her character in a nutshell. Both have a sense of wanting more out of life, and hopefully it’ll come from their men.
The plays are filled with cringe, and it’s intentional. Anytime the characters are paired up, and they start talking, it almost always devolves into an argument or a fight. It always starts when the men say something that makes the other angry. Even if it’s the woman who starts it, they’re fueled by what the man did.
They also do this thing where even though Carly or Steph are angry, they’re still laughing when either men try to diffuse the situation. It’s the definition of mixed signals.
I came across pretty after being introduced to Labute’s The Shape of Things, and thought that his writing was very provocative and attention-grabbing. pretty and Happy starts in medias res with Greg and Steph in the middle of an argument, and it’s like a train wreck: you can’t look away.
While reasons to be pretty was the first in a trilogy of unrelated plays with a common theme of the “importance” of beauty, that story and it’s true sequels has shined a light on how friendships and relationships are never easy. We’re all crazy and imperfect, but in the end, we just want love and happiness.
Get a pet goldfish, and check it out.
(reasons to be pretty and Reasons to be Happy photos by Joan Marcus)
