Neil LaBute: Plays 3

<p><b>Bash</b><br><br>Three darkly brilliant one-act plays, unblinking portraits of the evils abroad in everyday life, first performed in 1999. <br><br>''You don''t need to be familiar with Greek tragedy to admire LaBute''s ability to illuminate the dark corners of the human mind . . . He writes with unblinking candour, unvarying incisiveness and the ear and eye for the tiny, telling fact that reveals a character floundering on the edge.'' <i>The Times</i><br><br><b>Reasons to Be Pretty</b><br><br>Nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play, <i>Reasons to Be Pretty </i>explores love, language and power with fresh wit and insight.<br><br>''Neil LaBute at his best. It says things about love and betrayal that are rarely put on stage . . . The play has the transfixing nastiness that has made LaBute one of the most disturbing theatrical presences of the last decade. Yet it also has an unexpected ingredient: a beating heart.'' <i>Observer</i><br><br>Now collected with its sequel, which follows the same four loveable characters – <br><br><b>Reasons to Be Happy</b><br><br>''A richly entertaining shard of tragicomedy . . . a snap survey of American masculinity in crisis.'' <i>Daily Telegraph</i><br><br><b>If I Needed Someone</b><br><br>A drunken first date becomes an acutely observed dance of desire, expectation and consent. <br><br>''For all of its misunderstandings, misperceptions, and bristles, for all the insecurities and past hurt it opens for both characters, <i>If I Needed Someone</i> is the kind of first date that people looking for love dream of having.'' <i>Broadway World</i><br><br><b>How to Fight Loneliness</b><br><br>A married couple call on a third man to help them make a desperate decision, in this compelling and unsettling drama. <i>How to Fight Loneliness </i>received its UK premiere at the Park Theatre, London, in April 2025. <br><br>''A play that will force you to consider your own sense of mortality . . . starkly devastating.'' <i>Spectrum</i></p>