Eileen Tull Proves Everything with Too Fat to Run
There is something really wonderful about seeing someone lay themselves bare. It doesn’t mean the fear isn’t lurking in shadow, it’s just sometimes we get the courage to strip every barrier we so carefully built down to rubble and say, take it or leave it. And in the case of Eileen Tull, it is splendid to see. Tull is currently on stage an hour each week until the final show March 4, just her and her self-written, solo show, Too Fat to Run, at Redtwist Theatre as part of their One-on-Wednesday Series. This show – in a mere 60 minutes – is Tull’s masterclass on vulnerability and hilarity. Tull somehow is all of her selves throughout this production. She wholly embodies on stage the self-depractating humor, the raw honesty, the imperfections that make a person unique and wondrous. Too Fat to Run is a production that all should witness as a way to give yourself the permission, in all of your glory, to simply be your blunt, honest, stripped self.
Tull’s show is a monologue about her experience running the Chicago marathon. It’s more than a runner's tale of the drudgery of training, the high of the finish line. It’s a ringing bell of a question, what are you trying to prove? And Tull proves a lot. Always a runner, an athlete, a competitor, Tull took to training as the pandemic wound down to prepare for the 2022 marathon. Every mile of the way she was faced with this question from strangers, from friends, from herself. What are you trying to prove? Everything. Nothing. The possible defeatist moments when her training group’s timer left, stopped and moved on when Tull herself hadn’t gotten her time, hadn’t crossed the line, coming in last. What are you trying to prove? An email from a friend, overly concerned with her body and its ability, or in his eyes, its lack of ability. What are you trying to prove? The sizing up of every space, to make it evident that she is not a bad fat. What are you trying to prove? Each time though, when all instincts would have allowed anyone to simply say, I quit, Tull continued. Three minutes running. One minute walking. Mile after mile.
Do not be a fool though. This is not a show about body acceptance. The falsity of that prospect is repeated. The goal still exists, but when faced with the ever horrific things that are said and done to women’s bodies, it's clear that women will never be allowed to love themselves truly in their not starved skin. There is an endurance to it though. Like with the elation of finishing a run, the glimpse of self beauty caught in a passing mirror, the laughter after a joke timed just right, if you keep going it will all be worth it.
Tull’s Too Fat to Run is filled with uproarious laughter, cuttingly timed wit, and righteous fueling rage. As founder of The Fat Theatre Project, it is clear the kind of work that truly inspires Tull. Works that don’t just push boundaries, but annihilate them. Works that stop trying to be right or good, but reveal something that we all keep buried in the dark. Works that make you walk away feeling a part of a raw, wondrous whole.
Too Fat to Run is on stage at Redtwist until March 4. For more information and to reserve tickets, visit www.redtwisttheatre.org
