Rehana was finally able to come out and play with me in London so I thought it would be nice to get some dinner and catch a show. Fat Pig was a comedy that James had recommended to me so I thought why not.

The reference to Fat Pig could be a reference to Helen, the plus-sized woman that Tom cannot help falling for, to Carter, Tom’s “friend” at the office who is not backwards in being forward in his opinion on all things shallow, to Jeannie, Tom’s ex-girlfriend who becomes an angry, obsessed, bitter woman on finding out that Tom has kicked her to the curb for the more curve-friendly Helen, to Tom himself who cannot help but crumble under the current expectations, shallow surface-only value that society places on people where only looks matter. Whatever the case treading on this kind of ground can be uncomfortable for the audience but author Neil LaBute is for the most part able to tread this line carefully enough to allow the audience to enjoy a few laughs.

My favourite scene, and I think the strongest in the whole play, is the opening scene where Helen is at her most charming and sexy and Tom is at his most humble and generous. The witty banter and one-liners during this scene had Rehana and I laughing our heads off. Moving on to the second scene we are suddenly introduced to probably the most offensive character, Carter, who proceeds to spew forth a number of insults and digs at Tom, Helen and the world in general. Though you may hate this guy at least you know what you see is what you get and he doesn’t hide anything.

Jeannie, played by Kelly Brook, too is introduced and what we see is not particularly attractive under the surface even if what we see before our eyes is gorgeous. The character is terribly whiny and naggy and though in the end she seems to have come to some sort of peace with the whole Tom not being able to make up his mind situation her position might have been stronger had she stood up for herself at the beginning and written Tom off rather that constantly coming across as stalkerish and needy.

The comedy has its great moments and its low moments. For the most part I enjoyed it as too the audience around me. I really liked the ending too which, if not exactly Hollywood, was at least a reflection of real life and as a result you didn’t walk out feeling betrayed.

The night was still young when we came out of the theatre so Rehana and I continued to have our chit chat with a walk up Regent Street. I’d not realised it before but the strange Christmas lights on Regent Street actually formed very pretty stars when evening falls!