Brutal honesty. That’s playwright Samuel D. Hunter’s razor-sharp focus in his deeply significant play, The Whale. And through Charlie, a 600-pound gentle giant played by the superbly understated Dale Calandra in Victory Gardens’ uncompromising production, we see brutal honesty: in the flesh.

At Monday’s press opening, there were audible “tsks” and sighs of disapproval from the audience as the couch-ridden and morbidly obese Charlie reached for a non-diet 20 oz soda and tore into a tub of KFC provided by his well-intended but enabling caregiver Liz (Cheryl Graeff). But by this must-see production’s powerful conclusion, the snap judgements are wiped clean and you’re simply left devastated by Charlie’s unrelenting honesty and humanity. Read the full review on The Huffington Post >