The 2024 OzAsia Festival has opened and is delivering an array of brilliant shows until November 10.
Over the closing weekend, the interactive dining show Por Por’s Big Fat Surprise Wedding will take over the Festival Centre’s Banquet Room. You are invited to the wedding of the year hosted by the loveable yet bewildered Chan family!
Imagine this: Por Por, their 70-year-old matriarch, is getting hitched – but nobody knows who the groom is. Not even Po Por’s kids!
Is it true love or just a wild Crimewatch episode? Por Por’s determined son, Francis, his hapless civil servant wife, Rainy, and their precocious teen, Prudentia, are on the case to find out. Will they save the family from embarrassment, or will Por Por’s friends – restaurateur Ajeet, KTV king Adam, and polymath helper Flordeliza – manage to keep Por Por’s plan on track?
Starring as Por Por is the legendary Koh Chieng Mun. She is a well-known and loved TV, film and stage actress. In 2018, Koh Chieng Mun starred in the Warner Brothers film Crazy Rich Asians.
Koh Chien Mun spoke to Glam Adelaide about Por Por’s Big Fat Surprise Wedding, working across film, TV and stage, cooking and what led her to pursuing performing and the arts as a career.
“I have been in comedy throughout my career and I found out that I could make someone’s day better through laughter. I started as a radio announcer for a classical music channel, and even in a ‘serious’ music environment, I found ways to amuse listeners with fun facts, like how Eric Satie, the composer of the famous Trois Gymnopedies once went shopping and bought eleven identical pairs of trousers so he never had to go shopping ever again! At the start of my acting career, I was sought after to bring comic relief to the show and I felt that comedy was the path to choose. Then came the big show, Under One Roof, and I had ten years of bringing laughter every week to the living rooms of viewers. From the 90’s onwards, whether it was film, TV or stage, and now streaming, I have had a great time, because work was always fun and joyous. The one thing that really makes it all worthwhile is when someone, somewhere comes up to you and thanks you for making them happy.”
Having worked across TV, film and stage, we asked Koh Chieng Mun if there’s a platform she prefers working in, or if she sees the value of working across them all.
“I love to work, and each piece, big or small, consumes me entirely. I have been lucky enough to work on all types of platforms, and I have learnt something from them. For comedy, the most rewarding thing is having a live audience so I am a sucker for stage shows.”
Recently Koh Chieng Mun studied a Diploma in Culinary Arts and has become a chef.
“My late mother was a ‘princess’ at home, so my elder sister cleaned while I cooked from a young age. Making food gets you out of washing dishes, and everyone wants you to cook because your creations are always delicious, so why eat bad food when you can have good food. Then from many years of cooking at home, I became curious about how you can make a large quantity of delicious food consistently, so I went to culinary school to find out more. After going through my Diploma, I have added respect for those in the F&B industry and to be a chef is one of the hardest jobs in the world – much more difficult than acting. I love to cook, and I am a foodie, but I am grateful that I get to talk about food, to teach cooking and be involved in projects that are food related. I guess that for the rest of my life, I would be happy to be involved in food and cooking, so if all else fails in my acting career, I can always find a living in a kitchen as a dishwasher.”
Theatre and dinner go perfectly together, hand in hand, as she explained to us.
“Whenever I go out to watch a play or musical, I always worry about whether I should eat before or have supper after. That dilemma is taken away with Dinner Theatre. It is like eating a TV dinner, but classier. The theme of the show must be suitable though or you end up having indigestion. The journey that you go through attending dinner is part of the experience – you feed your stomach with delicious food and you feed your soul with life’s poignancy.”
Por Por’s Big Fat Surprise Wedding is currently playing through to Sunday 10 November at the OzAsia Festival.
“I love that the show is enjoyed by all ages, (I had a 96-year-old gentleman attend, and he whispered my name when I went to his table, and I had a baby who did not cry at all during the show). I love that everyone went home HAPPY and delighted that LOVE CONQUERS ALL and WEDDINGS ARE WONDERFUL, and CHINESE WEDDINGS ARE ALSO VERY VERY FUN!!!! I am very excited to let Adelaide audiences experience a Chinese wedding infused with Indian cuisine and ambience, and why Por Por wants to have a wedding with all the friends she has invited, to celebrate her happiness. This 70-year-old is gonna rock your world!”
Por Por’s Big Fat Surprise Wedding
Banquet Room, Adelaide Festival Centre
Wednesday 6 November – Friday 8 November at 6.30pm
Saturday 9 November at 11.30am & 6.30pm
Sunday 10 November at 11.30am
https://ozasia.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au/whats-on/por-pors-big-fat-surprise-wedding
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