Body Gossip at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

On a small, stark, square stage, with a sold out audience of only 250, centred in a rather steep stepped auditorium, actress Ruth Rodgers explains the purpose of tonight’s Body Gossip performance and how she came up with the idea of the production after witnessing at first hand what a skewed perception of body image the media and the world in general have. Ruth was appalled when she was told to lose weight if she ever wanted to succeed in her acting career, despite being at a perfectly normal and healthy weight.  It was then that she decided to take action and after almost 3 years of hard work and determination, Body Gossip was launched.

The production has taken place in various theatre venues around the UK, but the one I was lucky enough to attend was their only show taking place in the whole of Scotland at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The event took place in the Assembly Rooms , a beautiful venue which is used on a yearly basis to celebrate various performances for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

After a brief yet detailed introduction from Ruth, the performance began. The spotlight drew in on Nikki Graham, a well known former contestant from the hit TV show 'Big Brother', who herself has had a long hard 11 year battle of overcoming severe anorexia nervosa. Nikki read a touching passage detailing the experience of another young woman who had also fought this illness. Immediately the audience were captivated by the moving and tragic story performed by Nikki. As well as Nikki Graham, other male and female celebrities of all ages from around the world of television including Eastenders actress Natalie Cassidy and TV presenter Anne Diamond (to name but 2) also read and performed members of the public's stories describing their negative experiences around  body image that had been written and sent to Body Gossip. 

The whole audience, myself included, seemed moved and captivated throughout the whole production by each of the raw and touching monologues told by each performer. The narrators successfully made each story told believable and relatable to the audience, and the performance was most definitely heartfelt and clearly a subject which held a lot of meaning and importance to them. Each of these celebrities themselves had suffered from body image problems throughout their lives ranging from general unhappiness leading to crash dieting or surgery, to extreme cases of eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa. They talked about their struggles to the audience in the question and answer session that was held straight after the performance. However, although the majority of the stories told were of a serious nature there were also moments of comic relief where a more light-hearted and humorous tone was adapted. Therefore, the performances were self-depracating without losing sight of the seriousness of the subject matter.

Also, sadly a lot of body image problems begin to develop at a young age, which was highlighted in the monologues throughout the show.  For instance, a survey carried out by Ofsted of 150,000 children in 2008 found that by the age of 10 a third of girls and 22 per cent of boys cited their bodies as their main source of worry. In addition, recently a survey of over 1,000 girls by Girlguiding UK showed that nearly three-quarters of seven to 11 year olds would change something about their appearance. By the ages of 10 and 11, one in eight wanted to be thinner. I myself, as a teacher in training, am glad to see that body image is an area of high priority as stated in the health and wellbeing module of Curriculum for Excellence, which recognises children's self-esteem and self image as being crucial in order for children to develop and become a confident and succesful individuals and learners. For instance, an example of one of the outcomes covered in the module include:

'I understand the importance of mental wellbeing and that this can be fostered and strengthened through personal coping skills and positive relationships. I know that it is not always possible to enjoy good mental health and that if this happens there is support available'

HWB 0-06a / HWB 1-06a / HWB 2-06a / HWB 3-06a / HWB 4-06a

To finish up this post, here is a example of a video by actors featured in Body Gossip performances, which display just how powerful and compelling the type of performance I witnessed was.