Go, Glow, Grow: A Review of “The F Word”

I was invited to opening night of The F Word, and was also offered an honorarium to cover the piece as a media guest in any format that I chose. All opinions are my own. Contains spoilers.

Co-created and performed by Keshia Cheesman and Bianca Miranda, The F Word is a play that is over five years in the making. (Thanks, COVID!) I remember following Cheesman and Miranda earlier in the process on social media, and how excited I was to learn that a play on this topic was being created right here in Calgary, and now it has come to fruition!

The set for this one-act play is quite simple, making frequent use of video projection to help convey the setting. The play starts off with Keshia and Bianca (Cheesman and Miranda playing versions of themselves) at a dance audition, where they are ultimately rejected because they don’t have “the look”. The play then quickly moves through several seemingly disparate but connected scenes—different players in the performing arts industry lamenting over having to work with fat people; Keshia and Bianca witnessing a fat lady falling on the street; a news report of people protesting a one-size-fits-all store; the story of Princess Pinkie and her mother, Lady Slimmest-of-All (or something like that 😅) As someone who mainly talks about anti-fat bias in the realm of nutrition and healthcare, the scenes were an impactful reminder of how anti-fat bias can show up in virtually all areas of life.

Eventually, the play circles back to its “main story”—two friends who decide to go on a diet together. While most of us can probably guess how this story ends, the play is anything but boring. The story includes a few twists, with many humourous and lighthearted moments throughout. Throughout the play, Cheesman and Miranda cleverly use spoken word techniques, movement, and singing to tell their story and propel it forward.

Both my husband and I are thin people who have never been fat, and I think we likely experienced the play in a different way than a fat person would. For example, the scenes that delved more into the anti-fat bias that they experienced were heartfelt, touching, and sad. However, from conversations that I’ve had with my clients, my guess is that fat people will likely find this play very relatable, and perhaps recognize similar situations in their own life.

Although I recognize that no one owes us their stories, I do wish that there was a little more exploration of how Keshia and Bianca went from trying to lose weight to accepting their bodies and fatness. Nonetheless, I thought this was a really fun play that everyone will enjoy, regardless of body size.

I didn’t realize until seeing the program that Cheesman and Miranda have also collaborated with local photographer Tinna Khampasouk to create Fat People in Photos, an exhibition being held as part of the Exposure Festival. I will definitely have to check it out!