The normally lean fare presented at the Old Fitzroy has gone the way of the world with its Super Size production of THE WHALE by Samuel D. Hunter, a tale of morbid obesity and Mormonism.

In a squalid apartment in Idaho with drab dabs of nautical décor – a fish tank, a painting of a lighthouse, louvre blinds redolent of a ship’s sails or fish gills – English tutor, Charlie, is slowly eating himself to death.

Suicide by stuffing is his response to the death of his lover, Alan. Alan’s sister, Liz, pops in from time to time to aid and abet his catastrophic calorie intake.

Moribund and housebound, Charlie makes money by mentoring students on line. The study of Moby Dick takes a prominent focus, specifically one essay that seems to have resuscitative power.

Another whale story, the Biblical one of Jonah, is also prominent, conjured by an impromptu visit of a nineteen year old Mormon missionary, who interrupts Charlie whilst he is  masturbating.

Busted wanking notwithstanding the Church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day Saints, its minions and ministries, is somewhat of a bete noire to Charlie and also to Liz  as they both blame the institution for being implicit in Alan’s death, shaming and shunning of him for being gay.

Not so impromptu is the visit from Ellie, Charlie’s daughter. After an estrangement of more than a decade, he has tracked her down via Facebook, and summoned her to his abode in an attempt at a reconciliation.

In the wake of this, Mary, Charlie’s ex wife and mother to Ellie, enters the scene, making for a tidy final farewell as the beached whale prepares to blow his last.

Keith Agius, fitted out in unflattering fat suit, does an admirable job as the morbidly obese Charlie, grasping the posture and the short, shallow gasping of the grossly corpulent, negotiating the complex contradiction of the jolly fat man who harbours a dietary death wish.

Meredith Penman similarly has to navigate the contradictory character of Lizzie, the sister of his deceased lover and now his domestic who strives to keep him alive whilst simultaneously feeding him foods that will prove fatal, either by consumption or by choking.

Penman’s characters’ emotional conflict is well compassed, however she seems ill at ease with the cigarettes she is required to smoke; vile, heinous smelling herbal fags that cause quite a stench in the tiny theatre space.

Chloe Bayliss as the daughter, Ellie, is quite the attitude of insolent youth, a fearless ferocity masking a fragility, a forced bravado a veneer to a brittle soul.

Alex Beauman, at first the epitome of the gormless missionary reveals a genuine earnestness that eschews the shallow evangelism of his church.

Hannah Waterman as Mary, Charlie’s ex and mother of Ellie, comes late into the play but gives a scene stealing, heartbreaking performance, of a woman spurned of success as spouse and parent,  and finding validity in vodka. There’s a seething, shaking anger on view here, the kind that comes from still caring although one is clearly care-worn.

The play, like its protagonist, is overweight, and the production is plagued by a barrage of blackouts and a lighting design that is scrappy. So too the soundscape – confused, unclear and cliched.

One or two too many vignettes slow its metabolic rate. But it largely swims thanks to a committed cast who give big. Like Minnie the Moocher’s heart- as big as a whale.

Samuel D. Hunter’s THE WHALE is playing the Old Fitzroy theatre until the 4th March. Performance times Tuesdays to Saturdays at 7.30pm and Sundays at 5pm. Tickets are $40 adult and $30 concession. Bookings http://www.oldfitztheatre.com/thewhale.