Reflective and passionate call to arms to the Fat Rebellion, combining personal stories with smart choreography to audiences’ delight

Fat Blokes brought the fat rebellion to the Oxford Playhouse on Friday 29th July and it was greeted with cheers and applause for the ringleaders of this revolution.

Five men take to the stage for this show and through autobiographical monologues, exposing choreography and genuine warmth introduce the audience to the highs and lows of their lives as queer plus-size men.

Although at the beginning of the show I had a slight concern that it may veer into a self-indulging showcase (the show start slightly suggests the audience may be in for an hour of watching the cast perform reserved dances with little context or narrative which would have made it hard to warm to or get to know the cast) but instead it became clear this is a show about embracing yourself and shining a light on some of the vile behaviour plus-size individuals endure.

From the moment the cast started to take us through their personal stories the audience was enthralled. The cast is made up of some incredible characters who have (and in some cases still do) struggled with their own acceptance of their bodies, societals pressures and public attitudes and have taken the brave step to do something about it. The compère/ringleader of the rebellion Scottee would hate the use of the word brave but it is hard not to call it as such – these men are stepping outside of their comfort zone to highlight and surface their treatment and to call audiences to arms – stop shaming people for their weight in the name of unfounded health arguments and toxic beauty standards.

Fat Blokes is a touching, attention-grabbing show that challenges audiences to think about their actions, their accepted way of thinking and demands that things start to change.