PROTEUS Theatre Company brings its one-woman show Becoming Hattie to York Theatre Royal’s Studio tomorrow and Saturday after a residency at London’s Leicester Square Theatre.

The play celebrates the unique talents of a much-loved comedy icon of stage and screen, combined with a funny and edgy “calling out” of all the obstacles and lazy stereotyping of larger women by the media.

It’s 1974 and eight-year old Jo is snuggled up on the settee idly glancing at the telly when there, on the screen, is a woman unlike anyone Jo has ever seen on TV. Jo knows, in that moment, the woman before her is uniquely like the woman she herself will become. That woman is Hattie Jacques.

Forty years later, and Jo has followed Hattie’s footsteps; she too is an actress, but why does she only get cast as the nurse, never the surgeon? Why is she too fat to play Lady Macbeth? Why does she have a cupboard full of tabards? Could it be that nothing changed for women like Jo since Hattie did Carry On? The show has been delighting and challenging audiences nationwide with an impassioned performance from its sole actor, Ashley Christmas.

Becoming Hattie is written by Mhairi Grealis, who says: “I was immediately intrigued by the idea of looking not only at the wonderful Hattie Jacques but what it means to be a woman in the acting industry today."

While addressing contemporary issues around body image, sexism and sizeism, Becoming Hattie is full of humour and charm too, delighting fans of Hattie’s work and simultaneously lifting the lid on the life of the woman off-screen.

Tickets for the 7.45pm performances can be booked on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk