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*