Donna Disco

Donna is a fat, bespectacled, friendless schoolgirl with a terrible mother and little going for her but unquashable hope and a vivid imagination. Then, while completing a school project, she finds an unexpected ray of light to give her life a desperately needed meaning.

Donna Disco is not about disco dancing. It’s not about the ditzy life of an average 14-year-old girl. There are some very funny moments, but you leave feeling sad. The girl in front of me was crying on her way out.

I couldn’t work out whether Paula Penman was playing Donna too young, or if she was supposed to be underdeveloped socially, but she comes across as closer to eight-years-old than 14. This can be confusing, but isn’t jarring enough to take away from the terrible pathos of the story. Donna finds new ways to tell old stories of loneliness and self-loathing, while steering clear of maudlin self-pity.

Though occasionally guilty of overacting, Penman holds the audience throughout, and creates a character you believe in and feel for. Donna might think she’s bland, but her bravery, strength and anger make her anything but.

– Hannah Ewan