Solo performers on Edinburgh’s fringe are jointly confronting one of the most personally undermining ailments – body dysmorphia. Next weekend a range of female comedians – from self-confessed users of weight-loss drugs, to obsessive dieters and serial cosmetic surgery customers – will be fighting back against the damage caused by the pressure to look thin. In a string of shows they will turn the mirror first on themselves and then on wider society.
“Like many people, I thought life would start when I got to the right weight. Then you lose weight and think, how come I still don’t feel right?” said Michelle Shaughnessy, 40, an acclaimed Canadian comic who has written an unflinching new show, Too Late, Baby, revealing her reliance on semaglutide, the controversial weight-loss drug. “I never wanted to talk about it at my age. I thought, people are going to think it is a younger woman’s issue, and that I should have bigger things on my mind. But I still can’t get a handle on this.”
