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Do you go to a LAByrinth Theater Company show for political drama? For dense philosophical speeches? For a sparkling comedy of manners? Course not. You go for shouting and cussing. The new offering, “Thinner Than Water,” doesn’t disappoint.

LAByrinth’s stock-in-trade is emotional volatility, and Melissa Ross’ story of three bitter half-siblings who share the same father but different mothers offers plenty of knock-down-drag-out fighting and ranting. Nearly every scene in this slick but slight work contains some outburst, mostly brutal tongue-lashings administered by Renee, played by Elizabeth Canavan, to her stoner half brother Gary and her neurotic half sister Cassie, played by Alfredo Narciso and Lisa Joyce.

As Ross’s coy title implies, the blood ties that bind these three are extremely attenuated. From hints dropped in the script, we learn that their offstage father, Martin, was a lousy dad, successful only in alienating his progeny and giving them a legacy of relationship woes. Nevertheless, when Martin ends up in the hospital with terminal lung cancer, his sullen children gather in the waiting room.

Joining them is Martin’s latest squeeze, the earthy, talkative Gwen, played by the wise and soulful Deirdre O’Connell.

Ross’ writing is often zesty, muscular and quick-witted. But her storytelling is built around flashy, self-contained scene work rather than a narrative arc that gathers force or depth.

Mainly, this slim dysfunctional-family premise exists to give a strong ensemble of stage veterans a high-decibel acting workout.

“Thinner Than Water” may attract those who have followed LAByrinth over the years, but it can’t hold a candle to the company’s best work from the past decade. And while the play ends on a grim downbeat, no amount of strenuous shouting will make you care very much.