Fat Blokes, a new show by the current GCN cover star Scottee, describes itself as a (sort of) dance show about flab, double chins and getting your kit off in public.

It uncovers why fat men are never sexy but always funny, always the ‘before’ but never the ‘after’ shot. Accompanying Scottee on stage are a cast of four other people who haven’t ever done a show like this before.

In an interview with GCN, Scottee described the reasons behind the show as being a reaction to two things. The first was the level of violence directed towards fat people in the gay community.

“I’ve been at Prides where I’ve had glass bottles thrown at me. I’ve been in queer night clubs where people have tried to set fire to me. This is because I’m fat, they are explicitly slurring me because I’m fat at these moments of violence. So I wanted to explore why being fat in the community you are considered to be such a fucking enemy.”

Scottee is not the only member of the show to be victim to such violence, another cast member detailed being glassed while walking down the street merely because someone took issue with their weight.  

Fat Blokes is also a reaction to the type of “hashtag body positivity” found on social media where people are “selling us these capitalist ideas where if we buy a bath bomb or a scented candle that we will somehow eradicate all of the marginalisation that happened to us throughout our lives and it will eradicate all of our social trauma and we’ll be happy people.”

The show has certainly found its audience, touring to packed houses and standing ovations, igniting audience members who welcome the fact that it’s also about sexualising fat people. As Scottee continues, “I am always desexualised because of my fatness. People will see me as funny or broken, but never as sexy. Or if they do see me as sexy, often it’s about fetishizing me. With this show we want to show we can be fat, sexual queer human beings.

“Every night we make a decision over whether or not we’re going to take our clothes off in front of the audience. I tell you, when we do it feels brilliant because there’s a lot of fat rage in the room, there’s a lot of queer rage in the room.”

Fat Blokes will be staged in Project Arts Centre from February 14 to 16. Tickets available at www.projectartscentre.ie