Charlie, early to mid-forties Liz, mid to late thirties Mary, early to mid-forties Ellie, seventeen Elder Thomas, nineteen
Date premiered
2012
Place premiered
Denver Center for the Performing Arts
Original language
English
Subject
Drama
Setting
North Idaho, present
The Whale is a 2012 play written by Samuel D. Hunter. The play, set in Moscow, Idaho,[1] tells the story of a 600-pound (270 kg) obese man who hides from the world and stays in his apartment. He cannot stop eating to the detriment of everyone around him, including his estranged daughter.
Characters
Charlie – He is over 40 years old.
Liz – She is a nurse. Hodgins called her Charlie's "enabler" because she feeds him junk food despite his enormous weight and her own pleading with him to get better medical care.[2]
Elder Thomas- A young man Mormon missionary
Ellie – Charlie and Mary's daughter. Ellie has not seen or talked to her father in eight years, thanks to her mother's full custody, until she shows up one day at his apartment.
Dan - a delivery driver from a pizza restaurant Charlie orders from frequently.
Mary – Charlie's ex-wife, and Ellie's mother.
Production history
Origins
Created through PlayPenn, a new play development program based in Philadelphia, the play was workshopped at the Icicle Creek Theatre Festival in Leavenworth, Washington. It was given the 2011 Sky Cooper New American Play Prize at Marin Theatre Company in Mill Valley, California and was produced there in 2014.[3]
Hunter stated that his reflections on teaching were the initial point of inspiration for The Whale, and that he did not add the obesity aspect until later, as a way of making the teacher have a "distance" from the audience and the other characters.[4]
According to Hunter, he made Elder Thomas a Mormon missionary as a way of "self-protection or distancing" so that he could "write about religion, but in a way that didn't feel too close to home".[5] Hunter stated that he used the Elder Thomas character as a "sort of unlikely connection to God".[4]
Staging
The play had its world premiere at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts performed by the resident theatre company as part of the Colorado New Play Summit. The cast included Tom Alan Robbins as Charlie and Angela Reed as Liz.[6]
The play had its Chicago debut at the Victory Gardens Theater in 2013 with Dale Calandra as Charlie and Cheryl Graeff as Liz.[9]
The play had a Tokyo premiere in 2023. Sheepdog Theatre produced the run, with Walter Roberts as Charlie, Natsuki Robertson as Ellie, Laura Pollacco as Liz, Carlos Quiapo as Elder Thomas, and Louise Heal Kawai as Mary. It ran in English with Japanese subtitles.[10]
In 2024 the play had its Victorian Premier at The Alex theatre in St Kilda, Australia. The play was directed by Jennifer Sarah Dean and starred Adam Lyon as Charlie.[11]
The Liz character did not have her ethnic background or race specified in the original play. As of 2022, many of the actresses portraying Liz were white. This differed from the film version, where the character, portrayed by Hong Chau, is of Asian heritage.[12]
In terms of plot progression, a play director named Davis McCallum stated that the goal is to "turn up the pressure until it almost can't be tolerated" and then have a "really cathartic release at the end of the piece".[13]
