When Adrian messaged me a couple of years ago asking if I had read the script for The Whale, I didn’t realize then just how passionately I would want to make this production happen and just how emotional of a process its creation would be for me.
Charlie and I’s paths are not that different. I was first labeled “obese” at the age of 13 and carried that label my entire teenage and adult life. I grew up gay in a deeply religious community. I, too, share an unwavering optimism and faith in the goodness within all people. These shared experiences definitely anchor my portrayal of this character but bond me to this story in a way that very few other roles have done in the past.
Another reason this story compelled me so was the fact that, even 3 years ago, this story was already starting to feel like a relic of a reality that was fading. But things have changed very rapidly over the last couple of years, and quite frankly, over the last few months. With every passing day, the pain of Charlie and his family, both blood and chosen, starts to reflect the terrifying reality that awaits so many of those deemed undesirable by the powers that be. We must choose empathy. We must choose love. Even to our final breath. And that is why this story is important.
“Do you ever get the feeling that people are incapable of not caring?”
When the world around us seems hell-bent on drowning us in demoralizing updates about people in power stripping the marginalized further of the few grips they had on dignity, it is this unshakeable faith in humanity that Charlie has that we should all aspire to to bring us into a more beautiful tomorrow.
I hope this show touches you as deeply as it touches me.
Salvador Esparza
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