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reasons to be pretty begins with what is probably the most intense, expletive-driven, flesh-searing argument in the fiery LaBute canon, delivered by a very, very angry young woman to her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend. But after this first burst of shouting, Mr. LaBute lowers the volume and asks us to listen carefully to the way people speak in the early 21st century and to acknowledge the reflexive, culturally conditioned cruelty in much of what we say.
Greg, the play's hero and the recipient of the initiAl Verbal attack, begins listening with a new set of ears, not only to what everyone else says, but also to what he says. A man who always brings a book with him to work by Poe, Hawthorn or Washington Irving, Greg applies a close reader's interest to the less fluent speech of his friends and begins to realize just how fraught everyday communication is.