This spring BLUBBER will tour from 18 to 28 February and 15 to 25 April 2026 across 12 venues in the South East.

We took some time to chat to Katie Greenall; writer and performer of the beautiful theatre piece BLUBBER to find out more about the show, what audiences can expect and who the show will appeal to.

About Katie

Katie Greenall (she / they) is an award winning director, theatre-maker and writer and is currently Associate Director at the Royal Exchange Manchester and former Associate Director at the Bush Theatre.

As a ​writer, Katie was a member of the Poetry Collective at the Roundhouse and a Resident Artist at the Roundhouse in 2018-19. She was part of the Soho Theatre Writer's Lab programme, long-listed Channel 4 Screenwriting Course in 2021 and a member of VAULT Five. In 2020, she was runner up in Evening Standard Future Theatre Fund for theatre making and in 2024 was on the shortlist for the Popcorn Award. ​They have also appeared on radio and several podcasts, including BBC's Women's Hour & The Guilty Feminist, as well as writing from the Metro Online, Refinery29 & Bustle.

Production images: © Michael Aiden
Promotional images: © Claudia Legge

Can you tell us a bit about BLUBBER and three words that sum up the play for an audience?

BLUBBER is a solo autobiographical show exploring my quest to reconnect with my own body through the journey of synchronised swimming, forgiveness and whales - asking the audience was does care look like for a fat body?

Three words to sum it up would be: intimate, embodied and honest.

You use the writing style of autofiction myth to tell your story, can you explain a little more about the style?

I have historically described my work as autobiographical, and whilst this show is rooted in and inspired by my life, it mythologises aspects too. When I began making this show, I wanted to create something epic which allowed my body to be the whole world.

As well as hearing more traditional anecdotal storytelling, we follow Katie on a quest to find her body and reconnect with it. I wanted to offer something new to audiences and it felt like the best way to explore that was through fusing my life and experiences with an imagined world.

Where does humour show up most naturally for you in the show?

I think the humour shows up most in the liveness of the relationship with the audience. I like to be playful with the audience and respond to where I am and whose bought a ticket that day! My last show FATTY FAT FAT, really played with audience laughter - when they were laughing with me and when they were laughing at me. BLUBBER picks up where that show left of and uses that as a bouncing off point to talk about more complex themes and where I am at now.

Were there moments in rehearsal or during your performances at Edinburgh Festival Fringe when you realised how relatable BLUBBER is to other people?

It’s funny with autobiographical work, because I always find myself questioning that anyone, other than me, would care about my life! It is always a mystery until a show meets an audience, and people have really connected with the work. Bodies are universal and there are very few people who haven’t had a complex relationship with theirs at some point - so it feels like that resonates with people.

Without giving too much away, there is a moment in the show where the audience connection becomes part of the show, and it is really special moment to perform.

I’m really interested to see how BLUBBER connects with audiences on this leg of the tour, as even in the last 18 months it feels like the landscape for fat people and has really changed.

Finally, can you tell us more about how you bring the theme of water into the show, and how sound contributes to the overall atmosphere of the piece?

As soon as I knew I wanted to make a show about synchronised swimming, water became a huge part of vision for the show. We always wanted water on stage, and it is a really exciting part of the show- despite its challenges!

I have always felt most at home in my body in water and felt like learning synchronised swimming might allow me to rebuild my relationship with my body and find community. The sound of the show is actually all made from my voice recorded and manipulated to underscore the whole piece to hopefully create that epic storytelling world.