The Transfiguration of Benno Blimpie
THE STORY: Benno Blimpie is an enormously fat and desperately unhappy young man who is literally eating himself to death. Rejected by his coarse family, and a world which holds him in contempt, Benno watches bitterly as the history of his life is played out in scene after scene around him. His foul-mouthed, unloving mother; his gross, derisive father; his sex-obsessed grandfather, who courts disaster with a teenaged nymphet—all subject him to derision and scorn. Trapped beneath Benno’s gross exterior there is a sensitive and feeling person, with needs that cry out for fulfillment. But he learns that a love of beauty is not enough and, trapped within his ugliness, he can only shut himself away and methodically eat himself into oblivion.
Winner of the Obie Award.
A searing, sometimes shocking, brilliantly conceived black comedy by a writer of major importance. Dealing with the twisted lives of people who are considered “freaks” by others, the play finds humor, as well as powerful compassion, in its harrowing recital of their plight.
“This evening is strong stuff, but good stuff.” —The New York Times.
“There is a fresh and powerful new voice in the theatre.” —New York Post.
“Stuns and shatters. Bold, haunting and thoroughly compelling. It’s what great plays are all about.” —New York Daily News.
