By: Lakshmi Ganesan
Fat Pig, as the title reveals, revolves around Helen, an overweight sexy, funny librarian and her amour, Tom, a good-looking, successful man with an average build. These two meet, and despite Tom being the kind of guy who dates skinny girls, he falls deeper and deeper in love with Helen, who compared to other girls chooses to ignore the standards of beauty set by society. She’s happy, funny and sexy – while Tom loves that, somehow he doesn’t want the rest of his friends to know about her. So, the story starts with him keeping their relationship a secret.
The production held at DBS Arts Centre actually has Helen present onstage interacting with her surroundings way before the play actually begins, this gives the audience a head start understanding into her uninhibited nature.
There were quirky bits of this play, which came in the form of the domestic helper, who came in after every set change and made us laugh with the small, yet funny scenes that she reenacted, although she seldom spoke a word. The way the characters are created makes them very relatable to fellow Singaporeans as well – the annoying friend, Carter as well as Tom’s off and on girlfriend, Jeannie, are characters that you can see in society today.
Taken from one scene to the next, overshadowed by the emotions of the characters, you’ll be plunged into a rollercoaster ride of emotions from anger and laughter to moments of weaknesses exploring a spectrum of issues that borders ego, friendship and love.
