Eating Myself is an hilarious yet emotional roller-coaster. One minute you will be laughing at the almost cartoon like hysteria and then just a few moments later you will feel shock and despair, as you relate to the raw sadness. Pepa Duarte is an engaging, emotive performer who uses her body namely through dance, facial expressions, and personal anecdotes from her childhood to relate to the audience.

The show explores the relationships between food and family traditions but also female identity, Peruvian society, and diet culture. Throughout the performance Pepa is making a soup which she confirms at the end is real and audience members can try it. The soup creates a really powerful sensory experience through the smells and sounds of chopping and frying, plus background music and various recorded sounds bring yet another dimension to the stage.

Pepa Duarte, the writer and performer of this one woman show, said, “it’s an incredible pleasure to go on tour around England with this show. It is a way to make different cultures meet through a story of self-discovery. Thanks to the work of so many activists and communities we are able to talk about feminism and equality, but these are issues that we have to keep talking about. Women are still under the pressure of society’s expectations of beauty, weight, and gender responsibilities within the home and family. The show is a way to connect with women and men from all cultures, to revise and unlock our prejudice against our own bodies and others. Understanding migration as part of human life, and food as an immense source of tradition and love.

In this way, I wrote this play for honour all those generations that came before me, to bring them to the table and thank them for their care and knowledge. I want the audience to feel welcomed at my table and hopefully bring their families with them too.”

Whether you’re a man, a woman, or non-binary; whether you’re young or old, there will be something that will ring true in Eating Myself. Whether it’s the themes of mortality, death and illness, weight loss and diet culture, or food and its important role in the family home and traditions there is something for everyone. And if not, then you can always rely on trying a bowl of Pepa’s soup at the end of the show!

Date: 13 July 2023. Location: Brixton House, 385 Coldharbour Lane Brixton London SW9 8GL.

Catch Eating Myself on its UK tour, with dates and links below:

12 – 14 September. The Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol.Book now.

23 September. Derby Theatre. Book now.

27 – 28 September. Northern Stage, Newcastle. Book now.

1 October. The Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield. Book now.

2 October. Theatre Royal, Wakefield. Book now.

4 October Theatre by the Lake, Keswick. Book now.

20 – 21 October The Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham. Book now.

27 October NonSuch Studios, Nottingham. Book now.

Words by Mollie Kate Cohen