Fat Bitch—A one-woman show by Erica Watson, The Pride

 
Taking a page from Mo’Nique’s skyrocketing career, comedian and actress Erica Watson’s hilariously filthy one-woman show, Fat Bitch, is more than meets the eye—much more! Filled with razor-sharp observations about the trials and tribulations of plus-sized black women, Watson’s savvy monologue is also filled with scatological stories of bathroom drama, the war between penises and vaginas, the horrors of dating as well as the marginalization of black women into “mammy”-like stereotypes. She’ll have you laughing your ass off one minute and testifying to the heavens the next. Watson is a fresh, funny voice whose time has come…and woe to the poor fool who tries to stand in her way!
 
Owing a literary debt to plays as diverse as Caryl Churchill’s Cloud Nine and Mart Crowley’s The Boys in the Band (currently being revived by The Transport Group here in New York), Alexi Kaye Campbell’s impressive debut as a playwright, The Pride, is receiving a terrific production courtesy of MCC at the Lucille Lortel. Critically acclaimed when it opened in November 2008 in London, The Pride’s Off-Broadway production boasts megawatt movie-star casting in Ben Wishaw (Bright Star) who plays Oliver, a author in 1958 coming to terms with his homosexuality after falling in love with his illustrator’s husband, Philip. Wishaw also plays Oliver in 2008 as a journalist whose loving relationship with Philip is being undone by Oliver’s addiction to anonymous sex. Playing Philip in both decades as the play travels back and forth in time is heartthrob Hugh Dancy (Confessions of a Shopaholic) who brilliantly embodies a man unable to admit his true sexual orientation in 1958, as well as a contemporary gay man who insists on monogamy as part of his self-esteem in 2008.
 
As Sylvia, the woman in both their lives, the superb Andrea Riseborough plays Philip’s long-suffering wife in 1958 and Oliver’s best friend in 2008. Campbell cleverly and subtly allows Sylvia to grow in both awareness and power as The Pride progresses, and by the end, she becomes the most truthful and least deceptive character in the piece. On the surface, The Pride is a look at changing attitudes towards homosexuality over the course of fifty years. But probing deeper into Campbell’s writing, The Pride is a moving look at how self-loathing and the struggle for honesty have been—and continue to be—defining issues for gay men coming to terms with their sexual orientation.    N
 
Fat Bitch plays through February 25 at Laurie Beechman (407 W 42nd St, 212-352-3101). The Pride plays through March 20 at Lucille Lortel (121 Christopher St, 212-279-4200).