Filler Up!

Hilarious Jewish New Zealand comic actor, Deb Filler, bakes challah bread live onstage in her twenty-seven character play, Filler Up! Deb was actually born in a bakery. Her father was a Holocaust survivor who nearly starved to death in the camps had a lifelong obsession – food could never be wasted. Her recently widowed mother, also a survivor, had her own issues with food. This produced a passionate but highly unusual household. Filler Up! asks how do you take the recipe you are given by your family and make it your own? The story of the play surrounds this semi-fictional family, whose off-spring inevitably developed self esteem issues about being overweight, as well as a plethora of hilarious and poignant stories. These include young Deb unknowingly being sent to a fat farm, the bittersweet struggle of being an overweight actress in New York City, and falling in love with a Lesbian Avenger who demonstrates outside Weight Watchers.

Co-written with Lowry Marshall (2.5 Minute Ride), this powerful story alternates between howlingly funny and disarmingly poignant. Filler sings, dances and tells unforgettable stories, as rich as they are warm.

After seeing FILLER UP!, Estella Clingman, a fan of Deb’s, won the Champion Prize in Bread making at the Castle Hill Agricultural Show in NSW, Australia using Deb’s Challah Recipe

“Funny and affecting…She is a brilliant observer and her characterisations…are powerfully nuanced.” The Sydney Morning Herald >>MORE

“…utterly winning blend of humour and wistful observation… an intelligent and evocative meditation on appetite and hunger… The show…is a knockout. Miss it at your peril.” The New Zealand Herald >>MORE

“You’re guaranteed to lose weight while you see this show, you’ll laugh your arse off!”
Metro, Edinburgh >>MORE

“The humour is sharp…superb…likely to connect with anyone who’s ever looked in the mirror…Filler Up! goes down a treat.”
Time Out, London (Critic’s Pick) >>MORE

 Media Contact: ERICA ROTHSTEIN – fillerupinfo@gmail.com