The North East Theatre Guide: Donna Disco

Friday, 27 February 2015

Review: Donna Disco at Newcastle Live Theatre

Dancing With A Whoosh

Donna Disco

Newcastle Live Theatre

Until 28^th February 2015 and then on tour

Written by Lee Mattinson

Directed by Laura Lindow

Performed by Paula Penman

The lively packed Friday night Live Theatre crowd were in for a treat in Chicken Pox Fox’s latest production. Each member of the audience was offered a party popper and a large pair of glasses to wear during the show. This immediate interaction sets the show apart from the rest.

Donna is not the most popular member of her class but the 14 year old sees the positives in the world. This attitude helps the audience feel empathy for the character as she reveals her obsession with her neighbour Stuart. Donna is loyal to her father and her Gran, though she doesn’t fully understand her Mother. She loves alphabetti spaghetti and cream crackers between drinking plenty of sugary drinks.

Donna is given the opportunity to present her school project at the Christmas Pageant. She interviews Stuart and finds out about someone with a different lifestyle to her. The project has the aim to find out how to make a dance go whoosh too and it helps that Stuart loves The Carpenters a much as she does.

It is clear that she is accepting of an unacceptable situation at school. To that end the play uses the fourteen year old eyes to show how our most vulnerable children can fail to get the support that they need. Paula Penman does a superb job as Donna. She is engaging and delightful in equal measure. From the first entry onstage, the brief puppetry interludes through to final enlightenment Paula had the audience captivated.

Donna Disco is a charming play, centred around a powerful performance by Paula Penman, which enraptures the audience in its celebration of the human condition.

This review was written by Stephen Oliver for Jowheretogo PR (www.jowheretogo.com ). Follow Jo on twitter @jowheretogo, Stephen @panic_c_button or like Jowheretogo on Facebook www.facebook.com/Jowheretogo

The show was originally previewed here: JoWhereToGo Preview

Links

Web www.chickenpoxfox.com

Twitter https://twitter.com/chickenpoxfox

Facebook www.facebook.com/chickenpoxfox

On Tour:

February
26th-28th @ 7.30pm Live Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne – 0191 232 1232 / bookonline
March
4th @ 7.30pm The Place Theatre, Bedford – 01234 354 321 / bookonline
5th @ 8pm Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury – 01743 281 281 / book online
10th@ 7.30pm Stage, Leeds – 0113 343 8730 / bookonline
13th @ 7.30pm Assembly Rooms, Tamworth – 01827 709 618 / book online
15th @ 7.30pm New Diorama Theatre, London -0207 383 9034 / bookonline
17th @ 7.30pm Capstone Theatre, Liverpool – 0844 8000 410 / book online
19th @ 7.45pm Cast, Doncaster – 01302 303 959 / book online
20th @ 8pm Hull Truck Theatre, Hull – 01482 323 638 / book online
24th-25th @ 8pm Queen’s Hall Arts Centre, Hexham – 01434 652 477 / bookonline
28th @ 7.30pm The Western, Leicester – bookonline

Saturday, 27 December 2014

Preview: Donna Disco - On Tour

Donna Disco

Chicken Pox Fox Productions

On Tour

‘A tour de force of writing, actingand directing’ *****Three Weeks

Written by Lee Mattinson

Directed by Laura Lindow

Performed by Paula Penman

For anyone who ever thought thatbeing fourteen was easy...

Donna is fourteen, clumsy and fat. She’s bland, bespectacled and, if she’d ever heard of The Beautiful South, she’d adore them.

She also has a new school project, to source a stranger’s story and present her findings at the annual Christmas Pageant. And so Donna takes it upon herself to befriend the colourful cross-dressing butcher from downstairs.

But when her mother goes AWOL and an innocent crush on a local pretty boy goes hideously wrong, Donna’s world begins to disband and the disco that plays in her heart is in danger of grinding to a glittering, gobsmacking halt.

Originally commissioned by Live Theatre and supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England & supported by The Empty Space and Dance City through This Way up.

Chicken Pox Fox is a show and tell theatre company founded in 2010 by writer Lee Mattinson and performer Paula Penman. Their first show Donna Disco was produced to critical acclaim in 2011 and our most recent one woman show premiered at the Bush Theatre’s RADAR Festival in 2013. They are currently working on a mockumentary film project, a country and western musical and a multi-narrative project for radio.

Running time 60mins

No Interval

Links

Web www.chickenpoxfox.com

Twitter https://twitter.com/chickenpoxfox

Facebook www.facebook.com/chickenpoxfox