BMDS To Host ‘Donna Orbits The Moon’
The Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society invites audiences to explore the unexpected in Donna Orbits the Moon, a one-woman play about a Midwestern mother confronting hidden conflicts in her life.
A spokesperson said, “The Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society is inviting the public on an unusual voyage with its latest production.
“Donna Orbits the Moon, a play written by Ian August, follows Donna, a Midwestern mother, wife and minor celebrity, not on a cosmic journey but an internal one as she struggles with a conflict she doesn’t fully understand.”
Deborah Pharoah-Williams, who stars in the one-woman show, described the production as an adventure into the unexpected. “If you haven’t seen a one-woman show before, it is not just one character,” she said. “I think some people are afraid sometimes that it is just going to be a monologue and it’s not. The characters come to life through this person.
“We have wonderful lighting, projections. You really go on a journey and it is going to be quite an experience for everyone.”
Mrs Pharoah-Williams said that, as an actress, the show offered her a rare opportunity to delve into the shoes of a deep and dimensional character. She said: “Oftentimes women’s roles, especially after a certain age, are not as meaty as the male roles, so this is a wonderful opportunity, but it’s a character that is relatable to anybody.
“I don’t want to give too much away, but it goes into families and relationships and a little bit of everything. Something is going on with Donna, and we have to find out what.
“There is this conflict between being in a polite society, being a good little church goer and a baker and a good mother and then having these moments where she is totally out of character.”
Playwright Ian August said the show emerged through a writing exercise as a “love letter” for an actress he had worked with on a few previous projects. He said: “I wrote the first two scenes for an open mic at a local theatre, and the reception was so positive that I had to write the rest of the play.
“I will say, when I wrote the opening pages, I didn’t know myself where it was going. The play is about a woman trying to solve her own mystery and that’s absolutely how I went about writing it.
“Why is Donna so angry? Why is she hearing that particular voice in her head? I didn’t know, either but I wanted to find out.”
Mr August said that the play was written in a turbulent time in the US, adding: “Donna is living in that world, a world in which it might have been easier to try to make sense of your own life rather than face the world outside.
“I think that idea still resonates today. Donna Orbits the Moon is a play about hiding, more than anything else. It’s a play about trying to maintain a sense of personal control even as the winds rage outside.”
Mr August said he was thrilled for the show to come to Bermuda after the warm welcome he had received from the island and BMDS. “I hope, more than anything, that people walk away from the theatre thinking about the things in their own lives they may be too afraid to face, or acknowledge, or recognise, and use Donna’s story to help them work through those things,” he said.
“And I also hope they fall in love with this funny, quirky, lovable woman from the Midwestern US. And maybe, if the reception to her is warm enough, BMDS will want to see her come back, and then I can find my way back to Bermuda again.”
A spokesperson added, “The play is directed by Nicola Flood and produced by Kate Farmer. It runs from Thursday to Saturday at 8pm for two weeks: 19, 20, 21 and 26, 27, 28 February. Tickets are $35 from www.ptix.bm/donna.”
Read More About
Category: All, Entertainment, Music
