Art and Politics and Weight

Photo by Omar Lopez on Unsplash

I am beyond fortunate to live in an area that practically explodes with theatre in the summertime and to also be drama critic for a local publication. So I get to see a lot of plays, musicals, readings, and other assorted acts every summer. How cool is that?

This year, the Peregrine Theatre Ensemble (who couldn’t make a mistake even if they tried) put on Cabaret, a chilling reflection of the times in which we live nearly a century later. As we left, I asked my theatre companion what she’d thought of the performance. She said it had taken her a bit to warm up to the woman who played Sally Bowles “because she is so thin,” but that she’d then realized Sally was perfectly cast. “But there were some girls in the ensemble who were a little buxom,” she said.

I agreed. “It’s more a reflection of real life,” I said, thinking of recent commercials (Dove, for example) that reflect a diversity of body types as well as race. It’s a good thing. Fewer anorexic teenaged girls, maybe.

“You wouldn’t have seen that twenty years ago,” my friend said. “It’s a real problem in this country, you know, obesity.”

Whoa. You had me for a while there, but the lead actress is too thin and the others are too fat?

I’ve been thinking a lot about that conversation. And about another conversation, a moderated one that took place…