Reasons To Be Pretty Analysis

I’ve recently been able to read and analyze the script of the play of “Reasons to be Pretty” by Neil LaBute. LaBute has always had a preoccupation with the theme of beauty and aesthetic in our culture. His main focus is showing everything ugly about human nature and being. Neil is most known for his outspoken characters and shocking plotlines, making our job as the reader fairly entertaining. Neil’s play, “Reasons to be pretty”, demonstrates how society and the people that roam in it are obsessed with this idea of beauty through his development of characters, plot, setting, language, and theme in his writing.
Our playwright develops four characters in his story; Greg, Steph, Carly, and Kent. In order to develop his characters, he uses the other character’s dialogue in the story to highlight each of their characteristics and thoughts. He also throws in a monologue for each character as a choice for the director to place …show more content…
With there being no enhancement onstage the audience is solely focused on the dialogue, allowing the themes of beauty, love, etc. to be emphasized. The change in setting shows the audience how characters’ may act differently and even affect their motives. The play takes place in the present somewhere in the suburbs. The setting changes during the play and there are five places in which the play is demonstrated through. Those places are Greg and Steph’s apartment, the workplace of Greg, Kent and Carly, the local mall, and a restaurant. These changes in settings do not affect the flow of the production nor weaken the message that is trying to be conveyed. Instead it keeps the attention of the audience. The change in setting also shows a passage of time in the play. All of the changes in setting and time are natural and necessary to show progression and development of characters, not so much in their physical growth but their mental