Damn you, Neil LaBute. Damn you for getting your audience caught up in your clever dialogue, your complex, well-drawn characters and compelling plotline, and then making us leave the theatre feeling defeated about the state of humanity.

Then again, it’s what you do, and few do it better. When you see a show by the playwright who brought you In The Company Of Men and The Shape Of Things, among others, you know you’re in for a caustic ride. Fat Pig, now playing at Studio Theatre as part of its LaBute festival, is no exception.

Fat Pig is the story of the romance between Helen (Kate Debelack) and Tom (Tyler Pierce). Tom’s a fairly nice guy with a mediocre personality and a severe lack of backbone. But he’s decent-looking. Helen is vivacious, often confident, and bracingly funny. Plus, she’s fat. Not pleasantly plump, big-boned or any of the niceties – she’s a big girl.

So where does this leave them? The play is less about any sort of physical challenges the couple has to face – Tom is sexually attracted to Helen, and Helen, while not thrilled with her body, is comfortable enough to achieve self-acceptance. It’s more about what society has to say about the couple, personified in the characters of Carter, (Jason Odell Williams), Tom’s shallow co-worker, and Jeannie (Anne Bowles), his shrill ex-girlfriend, and what power their judgment ultimately holds.