The Big Fat Problem with Theatre by Caitlin Magnall-Kearns
For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to see more fat representation in theatre. Growing up with a dad who was an actor meant I’ve been watching shows for most of my life. I’ve always known that I wanted to work in the arts, but as I’ve gotten older, and wider, it’s fast becoming a place I find it hard to fit into.
People like Scottee and Selina Thompson, and local Northern Irish performers like Ross Anderson Doherty, are changing the landscape for theatrical fatties. But these amazing artists are forging ahead, creating space for themselves.
Before COVID I worked front of house in a theatre for about 6 months, and out of the 20+ shows I watched, I could count on one hand the amount of non-thin performers I saw onstage, and none of them were under the age of 35. But, and you’ll be shocked by this one, lots of people are fat! And they lead just as diverse, exciting, sad lives as non-fatties, so why are our bodies not allowed to tell these stories?
Why are we not invited to populate casts, fill rehearsal rooms, play the leads? The only times this is the case is when it’s stipulated in the script, like the cruel and outdated “Fat Pig” by Neil LaBute in which a man falls in love with a “shudders” FAT WOMAN.
So I’m trying to take matters into my pudgy little hands by writing a play, where my one stipulation is that the two leads HAVE to be fat. The play isn’t about their weight, how they hate their bodies, how they’re unattractive or lonely or unlovable. They have sex, and laugh and cry, just all while occupying big bodies.
My big dream is to set up a fat repertory company, with fat performers and artists devising new work, as well as performing pre-existing plays, Shakespeare, even. I mean why the fuck can’t Lady Macbeth be a size 24? But until then, I’ll keep writing fat characters, working with fat actors, and trying to make way for us in bigger bodies to find space in an industry that seems hellbent on making us shrink.
