Austin artist Shanon Weaver shares his experience playing Charlie and watching Brendan Fraser play the same part in The Whale.
"Check this out!" read several messages I've received over various social media outlets since January of 2021. All of them accompanied by a link to the news of an upcoming film based on Samuel D. Hunter's playIn 2014, my since-disbanded theatre company – A Chick & a Dude Productions – staged a production of the play. I played Charlie, the titular obese gay man seeking authentic connection in the final days of his life.
This is not a review of the film, so I won't talk much about it other than to say it's one of the most faithful film adaptations of a stage play ever made. There are very few differences, and what little has been changed is justified. What I will talk about is playing Charlie and all that comes with it.
For my part, I'll bat aside these controversies and talk about my experience knowing, respecting, and honoring Charlie and his story. Naturally, physicality played a big part as well. Our"fat suit" was actually very light and easy to move around in, so there was a lot of work endowing that weight into the performance. The director, Melissa Livingston , would sit on my chest as I memorized lines, simply to put in my body the feeling of how to breathe. The journey of portraying a failing heart over the course of a few days is challenging, to be sure.
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