Neil LaBute: Plays 2

'LaBute takes us to shadowy places we don't like to talk about, sometimes even to think about. ' Newsday. Obsession with surface and secrets runs through this second collection of Neil LaBute's work. The Shape of Things. peels back the skin of modern-day relationships to ask how far someone might change themselves for love, or for art. In Fat Pig. , a man confronts his friends' - and his own - fixation with Hollywood ideals of beauty when he falls for a 'plus size' young woman. In a Dark Dark House. and In a Forest, Dark and Deep. are twin tales of sibling conflict. In the first, estranged brothers must reconcile conflicting memories, after one asks for corroboration of childhood abuse. In the second, a man's offer to help his sister clear out her cottage brings a terrible confession into the light. The Shape of Things. 'What initially seems a touching study of student romance develops instead into a passionate discussion about the way art feeds on life. ' Daily Telegraph. Fat Pig. 'As large as Helen is, the tender heart of the play is easily twice as big. ' Variety. In a Dark Dark House. 'LaBute toys with expectations and takes pleasure in our discomfort. The play does lead to a pretty dark place - but the ending is not without hope. ' Daily Mail. In a Forest, Dark and Deep. 'It is billed as being about sibling rivalry, but in fact majors on far deeper, dangerous things: the yearning to be understood, female manipulation, and fascinated male disgust at a sister's lurid sexuality. ' The Times.