Derry Girls’ star Diona pens debut play about a bridezilla and her bridesmaids

Standup and actress Diona Doherty, who wowed as the surly exchange student Katya from Chernoybyl in Lisa McGee’s hit Channel 4 sitcom Derry Girls, has written her first play inspired by the massively successful Hollywood comedy Bridesmaids starring Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy, only with an added trenchant Ulster twist.

Bridesmaids of Northern Ireland, billed as a rambunctious, funny and fractious tae of wedding planning and competing female friendships, is set to be staged at Belfast’s much vaunted Grand Opera House in October.

Diona, 32, herself a Derry girl, who is also a star of popular BBC NI comedy Give My Head Peace and a new recruit on much-loved Ulster comedy panel show The Blame Game, notably fronted by News Letter columnist Tim McGarry, said: “We can’t promise you Kristen Wiig but we can guarantee you a hilarious show that promises to be a girl’s night out to remember.”

Diona will star as the ultra-loyal maid-of-honour Becky, whose nose is put out of joint while planning her best mate Sarah’s wedding with the arrival of the sophisticated, ultra-glamorous and middle class new BFF of the bride-to-be, her initial frenemy, Megan.

North Belfast actress Kerri Quinn, best known for appearing on Coronation Street, plays Sarah, something of a bridezilla as the big day approaches and Coleraine-born starlet Jayne Wisener, famous for starring in Sweeeny Todd alongside Johnny Depp and moonlighting in The Inbetweeners, plays the whirlwind of a newbie BFF who upsets the politics between the pair who have been discussing wedding planning since primary school.

The trio are off on a wild ride down the road to holy matrimony as competition between Becky and Megan over who actually is the bride-to-be’s true best friend threatens to upend the wedding planning, emotions run high and its often muskets at dawn as the countdown to Sarah’s wedding ensues.

“Prepare yourselves for dance-offs and sing-offs and eventually tear-offs at the hen-do in a caravan,” laughs Diona, who is mum to 10-month-old baby girl Winter and married to fellow comedian Sean Hegarty.

“It’s a story of female friendship, it’s a lot of fun with loads of local humour and the kind of local characters that we know and love in Northern Ireland.

“These are three girls in their 30s from here who are kissing goodbye to their fancy free and footloose 20s, with one of them becoming a bride, and what that does to the group dynamic.

“I loved the idea of writing just for women and having an all-female cast on stage.

“I want to show the things that women actually do talk about rather than the things that men think we talk about.”

Will this wedding story have a happy ending or will the best friends tear each other apart?

Or will it be something more mixed, with cat-fights and the kind of camaraderie only women together on a mission can really enjoy?

“I have been a bride, a maid of honour and a bridesmaid, which are all equally as stressful as the others because there is so much expected of you in each role,” added Diona.

“I have incorporated all of my experiences of being each of these into the show.

“I’d say my own bridesmaids will actually be in the audience going, ‘That actually happened!’

“Within the show there are full-blown fall-outs and bitchiness, because planning an engagement party, a hen-do and supporting a friend through their wedding is immensely stressful and the claws can definitely come out between women in the run-up to such an event.

“It’s a friendship test, but in the best moments it can be really fun too and ultimately a bonding experience.

“There’s been such a buzz about this because it’s a real girls’ night out show, although maybe some girls will have to go for cocktails to overcome their differences afterwards if they’re thinking back on rows they had playing bridesmaids or brides themselves.”

Diona added that she was delighted to have nabbed top Ulster acting talents Kerri Quinn and Jayne Wisener for the show.

“Kerri and Jayne are both so brilliant and so funny, I can’t actually believe it. I am so grateful that they jumped on board straight away and they loved the script as well.”

See Bidesmaids of Northern Ireland starring Diona O’Doherty, Kerri Quinn and Jayne Wisener at the Grand Opera House Belfast, October 17-20; the Market Place Theatre, Armagh, Octover 12; The Ardhowen Theatre, Enniskillen on October 13; the Down Arts Centre, Downpatrick on October 12; the Braid Arts Centre, Ballymena on October 25; the Riverside Theatre, Coleraine on October 26; the Burnavon Arts Centre, Cookstown on October 27; and at the Millennium Forum, Londonderry on October 29-30. Contact the relevant venue to book tickets now.

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