The weight of a heartbreak

AN exquisite sensuality suffuses every inch of The Weight Of Silk On Skin, Huzir Sulaiman's award-winning monologue about an ageing playboy. The backdrop is a large walk-in wardrobe with expensive shirts and shoes. A lounge chair rests on one side, while a half-mannequin stands watchfully on the other. It is all so tightly art-directed that it almost feels airless.

And then Adrian Pang walks in, leaving some gasping for air.

As 40-something libertine John Au Yong, Pang perfectly embodies the wealthy, debonair and outwardly misogynistic character. On first impression, John is a bona fide b*stard. He talks about women as if they were cattle: "A woman is the tautness of her flesh ... what you think doesn't matter, miss." The metaphor is transposed later when he compares the making of classic leather shoes to the way a beautiful woman casts her spell.