EDINBURGH 2017: BWW Q&A- Donors

Donors is a new piece of theatre, written by Nicholas Contreras. It follows the story of a woman pushing the edge of her child-bearing years and desperate for a family of her own. After a succession of failures with artificial insemination, she finds herself hunting for a sperm donor willing to try an alternative method. However, while natural insemination may have a higher success rate, human interaction proves far more complicated than test tubes.

Why bring it to the Fringe?

As a fledgling company, Little Mountain Theatre Company has chosen the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as our ideal venue to present our debut full length performance. Not only does the Fringe provide an unbeatable opportunity to expose ourselves as a strong, interNational Theatre Company, but presents a unique market of supportive theatre audiences. We are thrilled to be participating in the 70th anniversary of Fringe festivals around the world.

Not only does Donors provide juicy characters that deserve to have their story told, but the play lends itself to serving as a biting social commentary on the gender roles that society has dictated. The two characters, Roy and Linda, possess fears and insecurities that confront all of us on a daily basis. As a young theatre company, we feel it is important to lend our perspective on how media and popular culture has shaped, or has the potential to shape, our preconceptions of masculinity, femininity, or even what it means to be a parent and have a family.

How was Little Mountain Theatre Company formed?

Little Mountain Theatre Company was formed by Ben LaMontagne-Schenck and Marta Pequeño, after meeting at East 15 Acting School, over a shared obsession with Jason Robert Brown's musical masterpiece, The Last 5 Years. The two produced the award-winning one woman show, Lola in London, written and performed by Pequeño and co-directed by the pair. In 2016, with the arrival of company member Megan Lloyd-Jones, Little Mountain TC began working on what has now become their first full-length production, Donors.

Are there any other shows you're hoping to catch at the festival?

We're really excited about some new comedies. The Starship Osiris by Willis and Vere is supposed to be an absolutely hilarious Star Trek/sci-fi spoof gone horribly wrong in the best way possible, and Wombmates, by Full Pelt Theatre, which follows two Geordie twins from conception to birth. How could you not be excited by that? We also really want to catch This is Not Culturally Significant, by Out of Spite Theatre. It had a great run at The Bunker in London and we'd love to get to see it.

Timings and ticket information for Donors are available on the edfringe website.