Donna an oddity in comedy

The Donna I first knew was a teenager in shorts and T-shirt, cap turned backwards and sitting in front of a picket fence. What’s up Charlie Brown? was the name of the Belinda Barnes production at Secondary School’s Drama Festival and Donna won the best actor award for her performance as Charlie Brown. That was 1985. The next time I saw Donna, she had flaming red hair and was very enthusiastic about her role in the opera ‘Murder Anyone?’ at Queen’s Hall and maybe it was at this junction that she entered a solitary world of live entertainment. Prior to this red, the colour of my spirit, born to be free and to affirm life era, Donna was an actress in Raymond Choo Kong, Lagniappe and Ragoo Productions — the years before 1998. It was no surprise then, to meet her again in Tobago, 1999, doing a one-man stand-up comedy and boy was it adult! The language and content was x-rated but the issues were very relevant and the diction superb. For some, Donna’s entertainment might be considered “gross” and a turn-off; for others, therapeutic laughter.

“I’m always in awe of people liking me...once a man told me that his father whipped out a chaplet to pray for my condemned soul during a performance; I affected him so much...must have been something rude or blasphemous I said - but it was OK that it wasn’t positive. “Another man came up to me and said that I was ‘very gross’,” Donna went on to say, “but two weeks later, he came back to see the show, this time he wasn’t in the front, he was in the back; so I asked for the houselights on and I went to town on him. I thought it was kind of cute, seeing him again.” She stuck with the colour red, as she now drives a red car but the colour of her hair is presently light blond which is nearer to her natural dark blond tone and she describes herself as “an oddity, pseudo-syrian, a woman and ‘white’ (in quotation marks).” How does such an individual survive in a predominantly male, black comedian world? Simple. You can see for yourself by attending any one of her shows coming up — July 4 at Jean Pierre Complex; July 5 at Guaracara Park and July 6 at Shaw Park. But don’t come expecting it to be a crusade. She’s not working with that standard in her head that says “this is the way I should be.” No sir, Donna is going to give you the issues live and direct in her own naturally clever, witty, raunchy style. What’s the price she pays for her downright honesty to the issues she presents? Loneliness. “I talk to myself a lot. I know that I have taken my family through a gamut of emotions but I don’t live my life to make sure they are proud of me and likewise me of them.” Her father is Lebanese, mother, very conservative and she is the last of seven girl children.
   
It is also difficult for her to pin down a relationship when “men can’t handle what I do” or even their friends, so there is peer pressure. Also, “I have very few female friends since some women are conservative and are not comfortable with my presentation of adult issues while others live vicariously through them.” Donna lives on cod liver oil tablets, multivitamins and a high protein, low carbohydrate diet. Oh yes, and coffee. Also, she pigs out from time to time on junk. This gives her the energy to do her work. I went to see what her work was like and I met Michael Salloum and George Gonzalez. Is this a “white” thing or what, one might ask. But what is “white” in Trinidad? George (a co-host on 105 FM Mixed Nuts and Cork Your Ears, a sexual talk show) is the Iraqi General Isabulla while Michael is performing as Elvis Presley. In comes mini-me Elvis in the form of the midget Cyclop and Priscilla Presley, Donna Hadad, who calls him Lisa Marie. Well, that was a sneak preview of the brainstorming I was privy to on Tuesday. Debra Maillard was also thinking on her car’s steering wheel while reshaping the Bollywood episode I believe, and Louis Antoine was potting around for his script.  A script, which Donna later pledged four hours to an internet caf? in St Augustine to type, at least, the first act. But having dabbled in drama myself, I know too well the last few days rush to get production off the ground. The show promises to be exciting, with a mixture of skits of varying themes. And to add spice to the “bad girl of comedy” segment are Tommy Joseph, John Agitation and the Crazy Catholic among others.

“I know I sound aimless...but I have absolutely no idea what I’m going to do next,” were Donna’s parting words. She’s a great classical singer but doesn’t feel she can sing calypso. Maybe she would continue her home tutored tap dancing, or even start to paint once again. There are also calls to do shows in Canada; the last one in Winnipeg was a resounding success,  “I let it rip” was her feeling of total abandonment into her comedic role. For now, Donna is quite happy getting her show together — “comedy is no joke...it is an art...a science...a rhythm.” With no marketing strategy in terms of manipulating her audience, this brave woman is determined to take you out of the “rat race” and make you laugh for a while before re-entering that “messy” world.