Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP) present, for the very first time, 'The Deb’.
There's plenty to celebrate about 'The Deb'. It's the company's first show in four years back at their newly-renovated home, it’s a co-production with Camp Sugar Productions, and it's the winner of the 2019 Rebel Wilson Comedy Commission.
'The Deb' – from Hannah Reilly and featuring original music from Megan Washington – follows high school outcast and whimsical mega-dork Taylah. She longs to be the princess of her own fairy tale, but she also lives in a drought-stricken Aussie town struggling to survive, where cool girls and footy hunks lead the pack.
But things are looking up – Taylah's inner-city cousin Maeve is coming to stay, and the town's annual Debutante Ball is just around the corner. In the pair's search for social redemption and the spotlight, chaos ensues.
This show is filled with fake tan, lace, diamante tiaras, music, and a message about learning to love who you are.
Here, Katelin Koprivec, who plays Taylah, pens an open letter addressed to the only girl without a date, ahead of 'The Deb'.
“It seems to be that time. The time you start to notice the small differences. The time you start to notice the big things that keep you from 'fitting in'. The elephant in the room. Pssst. . . You’re the elephant.
That’s the sweet age of 16. Sweet promises of being special and grown and beautiful. 16 isn’t so sweet when nobody uses that word (or its likely synonyms) to describe you. You usually get dorky, beefy, funny and sometimes kind. Which is probably as good as it gets for a while. Or at least the good you notice above the other noise.
For me, it was a natural choice to be a leader. As a young girl, I had a presence and spirit that demanded ownership of my space. As a young woman, I realised pretty quickly, through the help of others, that the qualities I was admired for had nothing to do with how I looked. In fact, they were in spite of how I looked. Objectively, I know now how incredible that is, but no one wants to be admired for their determination at the Year 10 Formal when you could win best dressed or prettiest smile. I assumed the role of being the captain of self-deprecating humour, using my quick wit to charm my way to making new friends and it turns out my 'personality' never got me the princess happy ending. As an actor, I’ve always been prescribed a life on the side lines. The casting brief usually screams 'I’m just the best friend in Hollywood movies who only exists to continue the story, the girl gets the guy while I’m standing off screen'. So, I’ll wait for my cue to be comedic relief. Roles famously known as the sidekick. The DUFF. The fat, funny friend. The entertainment industry and society at large (no pun intended) have made their opinions pretty clear. If you aren’t the tall leggy blonde, we just don’t really care about your story because how could you possibly be that size AND be a complex thinking, feeling, experiencing human being?
Spotlight on Taylah Simpkins: a scrappy wannabe-teen-heart-throb and rural outcast who hates that she isn’t petite and dainty like the other girls in town. The town’s annual Debutante Ball is the moment every young girl waits for – to be presented to society, and accepted by your peers. Whilst Debutante balls, in modern contexts, may be seen by us city folk as an archaic virginal parading of young women, this tradition presents young people with an opportunity. To dress up, put on a white dress and brush their mullets out. We all remember the buzz of getting ready for your first dance and if you don’t, then you probably remember the reason why you weren’t participating. . . It’s the one night where the brief reads 'feel special'. Like myself, Taylah is optimistic, kind and deeply insecure of her strength and stature. I think that a lot of young people struggle in their teens, particularly in this day and age, because of the comparison. We live in a culture of curated perfection where you are constantly comparing yourself to your peers' filtered appearance on Instagram and the life that they seem to be living. We are comparing our insides with everyone else’s projection of their outsides. I think a lot of us fall into the trap (and I did too) of believing that everything WILL change after our perfect night, our perfect picture, after the perfect moment we are promised. Saying that, just because we romanticise something, it doesn’t mean it's dumb to believe in. These coming-of-age milestones planted within Australian culture give young people one night to feel fancy. What’s so wrong with that?
Some won’t like my use of the word ‘fat’. From my own fat perspective, it’s a word I’d like to reclaim. A descriptor that has been littered with things like 'unbelievable as a love interest' and reinforcing thinness with 'good acting'. Not only is this untrue but it is also fundamentally unrealistic in representing our world. Some would say this work isn’t important – size diversity should be secondary to dismantling other forms of oppression, or it shouldn’t even be a goal at all. But fatphobia is deeply enmeshed with other kinds of systemic oppression: sexism, ableism, and racism as documented history has proven.
This is why Taylah is so important to me. She is the only role I have auditioned for (excluding Tracy Turnblad *eyeroll*) that is a lead in a musical, for a fat performer. That highlights a fat story. There is still so much work to be done (and none of that involves anything you have or have not done with your body) but it does feel good to be noticed enough to have a story worth telling. I know you might not have a date just yet, but *spoiler* it’s still a happy ending.”
That’s the sweet age of 16. Sweet promises of being special and grown and beautiful. 16 isn’t so sweet when nobody uses that word (or its likely synonyms) to describe you. You usually get dorky, beefy, funny and sometimes kind. Which is probably as good as it gets for a while. Or at least the good you notice above the other noise.
For me, it was a natural choice to be a leader. As a young girl, I had a presence and spirit that demanded ownership of my space. As a young woman, I realised pretty quickly, through the help of others, that the qualities I was admired for had nothing to do with how I looked. In fact, they were in spite of how I looked. Objectively, I know now how incredible that is, but no one wants to be admired for their determination at the Year 10 Formal when you could win best dressed or prettiest smile. I assumed the role of being the captain of self-deprecating humour, using my quick wit to charm my way to making new friends and it turns out my 'personality' never got me the princess happy ending. As an actor, I’ve always been prescribed a life on the side lines. The casting brief usually screams 'I’m just the best friend in Hollywood movies who only exists to continue the story, the girl gets the guy while I’m standing off screen'. So, I’ll wait for my cue to be comedic relief. Roles famously known as the sidekick. The DUFF. The fat, funny friend. The entertainment industry and society at large (no pun intended) have made their opinions pretty clear. If you aren’t the tall leggy blonde, we just don’t really care about your story because how could you possibly be that size AND be a complex thinking, feeling, experiencing human being?
Charlotte MacInnes (Maeve) and Katelin Koprivec (Taylah) - Image © Tracey Schramm
Spotlight on Taylah Simpkins: a scrappy wannabe-teen-heart-throb and rural outcast who hates that she isn’t petite and dainty like the other girls in town. The town’s annual Debutante Ball is the moment every young girl waits for – to be presented to society, and accepted by your peers. Whilst Debutante balls, in modern contexts, may be seen by us city folk as an archaic virginal parading of young women, this tradition presents young people with an opportunity. To dress up, put on a white dress and brush their mullets out. We all remember the buzz of getting ready for your first dance and if you don’t, then you probably remember the reason why you weren’t participating. . . It’s the one night where the brief reads 'feel special'. Like myself, Taylah is optimistic, kind and deeply insecure of her strength and stature. I think that a lot of young people struggle in their teens, particularly in this day and age, because of the comparison. We live in a culture of curated perfection where you are constantly comparing yourself to your peers' filtered appearance on Instagram and the life that they seem to be living. We are comparing our insides with everyone else’s projection of their outsides. I think a lot of us fall into the trap (and I did too) of believing that everything WILL change after our perfect night, our perfect picture, after the perfect moment we are promised. Saying that, just because we romanticise something, it doesn’t mean it's dumb to believe in. These coming-of-age milestones planted within Australian culture give young people one night to feel fancy. What’s so wrong with that?
Some won’t like my use of the word ‘fat’. From my own fat perspective, it’s a word I’d like to reclaim. A descriptor that has been littered with things like 'unbelievable as a love interest' and reinforcing thinness with 'good acting'. Not only is this untrue but it is also fundamentally unrealistic in representing our world. Some would say this work isn’t important – size diversity should be secondary to dismantling other forms of oppression, or it shouldn’t even be a goal at all. But fatphobia is deeply enmeshed with other kinds of systemic oppression: sexism, ableism, and racism as documented history has proven.
This is why Taylah is so important to me. She is the only role I have auditioned for (excluding Tracy Turnblad *eyeroll*) that is a lead in a musical, for a fat performer. That highlights a fat story. There is still so much work to be done (and none of that involves anything you have or have not done with your body) but it does feel good to be noticed enough to have a story worth telling. I know you might not have a date just yet, but *spoiler* it’s still a happy ending.”
'The Deb' plays Pier 2/3 in the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct (Sydney) from 6 April-22 May. Head to the ATYP website for more info.
