Tale of love and Haiti... and voodoo

DIRECTOR OLA Ince has told Lifestyle she aims to deliver the musical Once On This Island with a dose of Voodoo reality that has been missing from previous productions.

The award-winning musical kicks off the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s 2023 season this month. A story of love, grief, faith and hope, Once On This Island tells of peasant girl Ti Moune, a boy called Daniel, and a union which prejudice forbids. Ince, right, admits she wasn’t familiar with the story prior to being introduced to it but quickly became captivated by the narrative, and not for the reason most might think.

“I didn’t know the musical at all before Regent’s Park Theatre sent it to me. When I heard it, I found it really intriguing and quite jarring,” Ince said.

She added: “Why were these people singing so happily about colourism, what is this? I’d never before heard or seen a musical that spoke about colonialism and colourism, especially within the

Director Ola Ince’s new musical Once On This Island aims to challenge perceptions. By Joel Campbell

Caribbean so frankly. And I wanted to find out more.

“The story is set in Haiti, when the island was referred to as the Pearl of Antilles.

“It was a French colony for a very long time and this story is about a dark skinned young woman who falls in love with a light skinned young man, and how forbidden that romance is and what she decides to sacrifice in order to try and pursue a relationship with him.

“It’s also about what she ends up losing because of pursuing this relationship, which is not being supported by the community. That all comes from the French involvement in Haiti, that all comes from colonialism and colourism.”

Based on a novel by Rosa Guy, the original West End production won Best New Musical at the Olivier Awards when it premiered in

1995 and the most recent Broadway revival won the Tony Award for Best Musical Revival in 2018.

Paying homage to the original author, Ince said: “It’s quite a deep story. Rosa Guy is a Trinidadian woman, I used to read her books as a teenager.

“She lived in New York and she wrote a book called My Love, My Love: or The Peasant Girl, which is a much more visceral and spiritual version of this musical, which I’ve read a lot and I am trying to sow as much of the book back into the musical as possible.

“The big thing that was important about this particular love story is Ti Moune’s belief system and how she tries to achieve her love and that’s through Voodoo. I think a lot of productions have shied away from that. Not that I have seen them all, but I thought that we should really embrace that. That is the heritage, that is the culture of Haiti and it has been demonised. I want people to watch the show and go ‘Voodoo is a religion, that’s it’.

“Just like everyone is able to be respectful towards Christianity, Hinduism or Sikhism, why not have the same amount of respect for Voodoo?”

Ince’s work is known for challenging perceptions and presenting ‘facts’. Excited to be taking on the award-winning story, she enthused: “Once On This Island is a poignant, moving and politically charged story.

“I’m thrilled to be working with an extraordinarily talented team at Regent Park’s Open Air Theatre; a place where true magic happens. It’s a dream come true.” Catch the full video interview on our website.

May 10 – June 10, 2023

Assisted Performances: Mon-Sat 8pm, Thu & Sat 3pm

BSL Interpreted: June 6, 8pm

Captioned: June 9, 8pm

Audio Described & Touch Tour: June 10, 3pm, Tickets from £25 www.openairtheatre.com

PRESENTING THE ‘FACTS’: Ola Ince is excited to be taking on the award-winning story