«This play, without two fat actresses, there would be no place to take it»

Mara Jiménez and Teresa López are two actresses, two references of the ‘bodypositive’ movement on the networks and two fat women, qualities that they put at the service of the theatrical work with which they are this Monday and tomorrow in Logroño, in the Bretón de los Herreros (8:00 p.m.). In ‘Gordas’, written and directed by Carlos Mesa, they claim that space that society has decided to limit due to their body, and they cry out against fatphobia and any barrier to diversity.

– On stage you claim to be different and be happy with our differences. Besides fatness, what other differences do you talk about in the work?

– We talk about absolutely everything, about religion, about sex, about going out to parties, about going on a diet… and, in fact, fatness and fatphobia is something that is discussed very briefly at the end of the work. Our message is that the public is able to see how two fat women are capable of playing many types of characters and not just that of the funny fat woman. We want to claim all the capacity we have to interpret.

– Although Carlos Mesa is the author and director of ‘Gordas’, you are very involved in the project, in fact you were a bit of the inspiration for the story since you were living with Carlos at the time, with whom you are also a partner in the Bendita Inocencia production company.

– We wanted to share a theater project but we didn’t really know what to write about until one day he said: «I already have it! “We’re going to talk about you, we’re going to talk about fat women.” He was my roommate and he had lived through my entire evolution on social networks, he knew perfectly well what I faced in my daily life, so he took all my dramas and my traumas and put them at the service of interpretation.

– A work tailored to you.

– Literally.

– How does the public react to ‘Gordas’?

– For people who suffer from fatphobia or are close to someone who has suffered from it, it is very empowering, and people who experience it from afar come very close to understanding. We hear a lot of comments like “Damn! I’ve seen myself doing behaviors like the ones you’re reporting and I wasn’t aware that I could be hurting someone.” Then it is a wonder because the work is both empowering and eye-opening.

– Both you and Mara (known as ‘croquetamente’ on the networks) live and celebrate fat every day. Would this show have been different with two actresses who weren’t fat?

– Yes, one hundred percent. It was unavoidable that its protagonists were two fat women who had a lot to say and said it with a loud and clear speaker. This work, without two fat women, would have no place to take it.

– Have you always felt comfortable with your body or have you had to learn to accept yourself?

– I always say that I am a lucky fat woman because I have had the joy of loving myself a lot from the beginning. I have changed my body over the years; I lose weight and gain weight, I gain weight and lose weight, I have a pretty fun body, it likes change, and I have been lucky to have a lot of support from my family, at school and in my social circle. But it is true that there are specific moments in life when it is very difficult to love yourself one hundred percent, and it is something that I have had to fight and understand.

–And how does one reconcile with their body?

– A main tool, and one that unfortunately not everyone can afford, is therapy. I think a person who helps you heal your relationship with your body in a professional way is a great tool. And then, without a doubt, the key is to speak well to yourself; change the internal discourse you have with yourself and treat yourself as if you were your best friend instead of beating yourself up.

– You are a standard bearer of ‘Body Positive’. Do you think this cause is getting enough attention?

– Obviously we have improved a lot since I started in networks until today. Before it was something that was not talked about and the possibility that women and men with fat bodies could be empowered was not even contemplated, but obviously there is a lot of work to be done and the new generations have to do it, as they are the ones who are going to decide how things go. to turn the world from now on. In this sense, I think it should be a topic present in schools, institutes and even universities.

– Both Mara Jiménez and you succeed on social networks, paradoxically the vehicle that leads to enslaving many people with their bodies.

– Indeed, we are like the resistance, we try to show on networks something different from what is most consumed here; We place a lot of emphasis on going in the opposite direction to cosmetic surgery and if you want to lose weight, do it in a healthy way. There are many 12 or 14 year old girls who want to have nose or breast surgery to try to resemble an ideal of beauty that really does not exist, because it is impossible to maintain a perfect body over time.

– Will artificial intelligence play against fatness or can they be allies?

– I like to be positive and I want to think that AI is a tool that, like all tools, can be used well or badly. I like the idea that people have principles and morals and use this tool for good. What is the reality that we have encountered so far? That doesn’t usually happen, quite the opposite. Right now, creating a model of a woman like me with AI is super difficult, it directly leads to morbid obesity, there is no middle ground, then it is very complicated but I like to think that science will advance hand in hand with good.

– Returning to the play ‘Gordas’, tell me about the staging.

– It is a great proposal by Carlos Mesa, super clean, simple and discreet, something that we have as a banner at Bendita Inocencia. It is only a sofa and the two of us dressed in a white jumpsuit and different elements that give the differentiating nuance between one character and another.

– The youth of Carlos Mesa (25 years old), its author and director, is surprising.

– For me it is absolutely groundbreaking, innovative, it is dedicated to launching messages that are the order of the day. He is capable of getting into wounds, touching them and making you laugh, and all of this from a good perspective. He, being a thin man, has written a work about fat women, about what we have suffered throughout our lives and, however, when we finished reading it we wanted to hug him because he manages to find the exact and perfect key. I admire him deeply.

– I suppose that in Logroño the war cry of ‘Fatties’ will also be heard.

– It would be missing more. 1, 2, 3 vacaburra!