THE DATING GAME IS A TRICKY thing—trickier when there’s genuine affection involved.  Trickier still when one of the partners is “different.”
            There lies the rub for Tom (Skye Brandon), the young, fit professional who finds love, temporarily, with an obese woman named Helen in Northern Light Theatre’s production of Neil LaBute’s Fat Pig.
            The unlikely pair meet at a bustling lunch bistro, where Tom take an empty seat next to Helen;  He’s eating a lunch of sprouts and water while she devours an order of garlic bread and pizza, frowning only when nibbling from her meagre salad.  Bubbly and unapologetic about her size, Helen encourages Tom to spoil his sensible meal by offering him one of two chocolate puddings on her tray.  The seduction is underway.
            NLT newcomer Carlye Windsor renders a witty and vulnerable Helen, dishing relentless self-deprecating humour as she eases into conversation with Tom.  When he makes a reference to Helen of Troy after learning her name, she replies with a chuckle, “They would have needed those thousand ships just to carry me!” Uncomfortable, Tom doesn’t laugh.
            LaBute’s customary biting repartee continues into Tom’s office, where his narcissistic co-worker Carter (Jessie Gervais) laughs about Jeannie—the attractive woman from accounting who Tom’s been avoiding a second date with—who he thinks looks “a bit soft” lately.  Gervais makes a wonderfully hateful office jerk, perusing Maxim Magazine while ranting about anyone who doesn’t fit the successful, image-obsessed norm. “Fags, retards, cripples.  Fat people. Old folks, even.  They scare us,” he says, trying to convince Tom to do the “right thing” and dump Helen.
            Lora Brovold is excellent as the shrill, high-maintenance Jeannie, simultaneously defending and embarrassing herself with her efforts to snag Tom’s attention—and creating a striking contrast to Helen’s quiet, ashamed tolerance of Tom’s insecurity over their relationship.  Brandon effectively balances Tom’s frustration at his co-workers’ taunts with his sincere feelings for Helen—which makes it all the more devastating when he allows the former to take precedence over the latter (Like all LaBute heroes, Tom’s a complete moral weakling.)

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