The actress is an incredibly impressive person.
A few weeks ago, Nicola Coughlan, star of the hit TV show Derry Girls, highlighted the work of this critic for his completely inappropriate review about her recent performance as Joyce Emily in a play called Miss Jean Brodie.
Philip Fisher is a writer for the British Theatre Guide, and rather than critique Coughlan’s performance, he chose to repeatedly talk about her body and physical appearance.
For some bizarre reason, he felt the need to refer to Coughlan’s character as an “overweight little girl” while adding that she’s “the butt of her fellows’ immature humour.”
https://twitter.com/nicolacoughlan/status/1007240279936655361?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1007240279936655361&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joe.ie%2Fmovies-tv%2Fapology-issued-critics-comments-made-derry-girls-stars-weight-629802
Since then, the British Theatre Guide have released an apology on behalf of the organisation.
They replied to Coughlan’s tweets by saying: “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.”
The Derry Girls actress has now addressed the whole ordeal in The Guardian and it’s an extremely good read.
After spending seven weeks creating the character and perfecting her performance for the play, Coughlan states that Fisher’s review was “hurtful, and not only in the obvious way. Those were the only words he could think of to describe the work I’d done. That time, I didn’t complain but the play’s writer, Zoe Cooper, contacted the BTG. The “offending word” was removed from the review but no apology issued.”
After expressing her gratitude for the incredible amount of support and kind words received in the aftermath – from both men and women – the Galwegian said that she felt “emboldened and inspired to come out and speak now.”
As she succinctly states: “I hope in the future that more people will talk about our work, our inspirations, our drive, rather than our looks. A revolution is happening, and I want to play my part in it.”
Wise words that we hope are heard by everyone.
You can read the whole interview here.
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