Derry Girls star Nicola Coughlan has called out a theatre critic for commenting on her weight in two separate reviews.
The Galway-born actress, who plays Clare in the hit Channel 4 comedy series, is currently starring in the play The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie at Donmar Warehouse in London and it's garnering positive reviews.
"One of Miss Brodie’s greatest admirers was Joyce Emily Hammond, the very rich girl, their delinquent, who had recently been sent to Marcia Blaine as a last hope, because no other school, no other governess could manage her"#MissJeanBrodie Press Night @DonmarWarehouse Tonight pic.twitter.com/FEapgtCUhP
— Nicola Coughlan (@nicolacoughlan) June 12, 2018
On Thursday, the 31-year-old star of the screen and stage took to Twitter to draw attention to a review of the play by Philip Fisher for the British Theatre Guide, an independent website featuring reviews, news and podcasts.
She posted a screengrab of a portion of his review which referred to her character as a "kind of overweight little girl" and wrote: "Hi @BritTheatreGuid, for the second time your reviewer Philip Fisher has come to see a show I’m in, and as part of reviewing the show he has also reviewed my body.
"How can you continue to support this?"
Hi @BritTheatreGuid, for the second time your reviewer Philip Fisher has come to see a show I’m in, and as part of reviewing the show he has also reviewed my body.
— Nicola Coughlan (@nicolacoughlan) June 14, 2018
How can you continue to support this? pic.twitter.com/Rtd7mVBmSA
Coughlan went on to explain that Fisher also commented on her weight when he reviewed her play Jess and Joe Forever last year, saying he opened the review with the sentence "Jess is a fat girl".
"My weight has no relevance to either the performance I gave in that or in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie", she wrote.
I was in a show called Jess and Joe Forever @traversetheatre last August which he came to see and his opening sentence was "Jess is a fat girl"
— Nicola Coughlan (@nicolacoughlan) June 14, 2018
My weight has no relevance to either the performance I gave in that or in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
The actress also drew attention to the critic's description of a rape scene from another play, before adding: "Philip Fisher, I know you are a theatre reviewer and your body had no relevance to your job but maybe you'd like me to cruelly review it for you and post it online?"
As a side note, his review of Low Level Panic @OrangeTreeThtr describes a rape scene and he actress in it in this way pic.twitter.com/HvXNnS9KTj
— Nicola Coughlan (@nicolacoughlan) June 14, 2018
Philip Fisher, I know you are a theatre reviewer and your body had no relevance to your job but maybe you’d like me to cruelly review it for you and post it online?
— Nicola Coughlan (@nicolacoughlan) June 14, 2018
She tweeted to the British Theatre Guide that she is "so disappointed you let a man like this review for you."
"Let me state this clearly, he is not welcome to review any show I am in from now till forever. And I plan to be in a lot of damn shows", she concluded.
Derry Girls creator and writer Lisa McGee retweeted Nicola's first tweet, with the caption, "This is unacceptable".
This is unacceptable @BritTheatreGuid https://t.co/baX1yD1tic
— Lisa McGee (@LisaMMcGee) June 14, 2018
The British Theatre Guide responded to Coughlan by saying they "apologise unreservedly for the offence caused by the wording of this review."
They tweeted: "The offending words have been removed. While the reviewer may not have intended to offend, he accepts that it is not acceptable to use such descriptions in a review and not BGT policy."
Nicola, we apologise unreservedly for the offence caused by the wording of this review. The offending words have been removed. While the reviewer may not have intended to offend, he accepts that it is not acceptable to use such descriptions in a review and not BTG policy.
— British TheatreGuide (@BritTheatreGuid) June 14, 2018
