Fat Pig

"How many insults can you hear before you have to stand up and defend the woman you love?"
Tom played by Gavin Yap faces this very question when he falls for plus-sized Helen.

I am glad that I caught the show on Tuesday, 25th February. It was a sold-out show that night!

(Credits: Pangdemonium)

This is definitely a refreshing play to watch. It is hilarious yet thought-provoking. From the very name of the play, it centers around how we, culturally treat, overweight people. However, it is definitely more than that. It touches on issues such as self-esteem, prejudice, discrimination and even how we often put labels to things just to make oneself feel better. The way the play ended might show that the characters learn nothing, but as audience you definitely get more questions than answers. This is definitely something I love about Pangdemonium, their productions always bring forth pertinent issues that we deliberately try to avoid openly discussing about for various reasons into the spotlight.

The play has rather unfamiliar cast members. Except for Gavin Yap who plays Tom, I have never seen the other cast members before. Nevertheless, they are pretty impressive. Frances Lee plays the lead role Helen in her debut theatre production with Pangdemonium. She might be new and a little nervous but she really brings out the realness and vulnerability of the character she plays. Elizabeth Lazan pulls off a convincing role as Jeannie, who is obsessed with Tom and constantly vents her woman's fury on him. Though her scenes are short, this is definitely not an easy role to play and I personally think she acts Jeannie to perfection. Carter, played by Zachary Ibrahim, might be a really mean guy but he also has one of the wisest line in the entire play "Do what you want. If you like this girl, then don't listen to a goddamn word anybody says.". 

Besides the acting, I am really impressed by Pangdemonium's usage of space. The Singapore Repertory Theatre's stage is definitely small and one might be led to believe that it limits how the play is going to be staged. However, the way Pangdemonium creates the various scenes from the fastfood restaurant to the office, bedroom, restaurant or beach with great details shows how a well-staged show can be done with such great planning. The way the play transitions from one scene to another is also beautiful and engages the audience at the same time. 

Undoubtedly a funny play, it does make one feel bad for laughing.

This Fat Pig is definitely worth catching!
Fat Pig runs from 13 February 2014 to 2 March 2014 at the DBS Arts Centre. Do get your tickets before they run out!