Mr Chubba Chubba | Up Next Festival 26

Saturday 28th March

5:30pm

Mr Chubba Chubba is a spoken-word theatre show exploring masculinity, body image and belonging through humour, poetry and northern storytelling. Blending stand-up energy with raw confession, the show moves between childhood memories, lad culture and quiet moments of self-reflection, asking what it really means to be a man today.

Created and performed by The Chubby Northerner, directed by Joseph Walsh, the piece draws on lived experience to challenge shame, celebrate softness and reclaim the body as a place of pride. Funny, honest and full of heart, Mr Chubba Chubba is a love letter to community, resilience and self-acceptance.

 

Team

Tom, known on stage as The Chubby Northerner, is a poet and playwright whose writing blends humour, heart, and honesty. His work captures the rhythms of Northern life, exploring community, identity, and resilience through a relatable, conversational voice. Tom’s poetry has travelled from local stages to international platforms including opening the 2021 UEFA Champions League Final and he is the most featured poet on BBC Radio Manchester’s BBC Upload. His debut play Netflix and Chill earned a Standing Ovation Award nomination in London, while On The Streets of Covid won a Royal Exchange Theatre short playwriting competition.

Joseph Walsh is a writer and director, and a supported artist of ThickSkin Theatre. For ThickSkin credits include: Pigeon (with Royal Exchange Theatre as playwright), Something (as co-Director for the Generator Young Company), This Is Where We Begin (as Associate Director as part of the Walk This Play audio-series) and Blood Harmony (as Assistant Director and RTYDS placement). Joseph’s writing and directing credits include: Frozen Peas In An Old Tin Can (The Way Theatre) and Like Dad, Like Duck (Oldham Coliseum). Assistant and associate director credits include: The Social (Not Too Tame), Elves And The Shoemaker (Lancaster Dukes/Oldham Library Theatre). He is an alumni of the RTYDS and his show Like Dad, Like Duck won the Oldham Coliseum Off Out Award).