Rising Star | Dujonna Gift

The Gift who keeps on giving

Dujonna Gift has paid her dues as a swing, cover and supporting player, and is about to co-lead a West End show for the first time. She plays Robin in the Kiln Theatre’s transfer of two-hander platonic rom-com Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) at the Criterion Theatre opposite Sam Tutty. With roles in Caroline, or Change, Hamilton and Dear Evan Hansen on her CV, Gift initially wasn’t going to audition for Two Strangers as she was looking to pivot towards screen work. However, ‘I read the script and it was so different and a role I really loved.’ She and Tutty were already friends but didn’t know that they’d both been cast until the first day of rehearsals – just like how their characters are thrown in at the deep end!

Caribbean influences

Gift was raised in South London by a Grenadian mother and a British-born Jamaican father. She grew up immersed in the music of the Caribbean diaspora and her cousin was a member of the boyband JLS, which provided the chance ‘to see first-hand what it’s like to be recognised in the arts’.

As a child, Gift attended the Michelle Bourne Dance Academy, which had an agency attached and led to some small acting jobs. She knew she wanted to pursue a career in the performing arts and she also thrived academically.

Gift explains: ‘In Caribbean families, education is everything. My dad worked in STEM but once I talked to my parents when the deputy head at my school arranged a meeting, they couldn’t have been more supportive.’ Gift studied at The BRIT School for two years, which ‘ does a beautiful job in promoting individuality’.

Early debut

After BRIT, Gift started a degree course but left after a year because she felt restricted: ‘I’ve always felt multifaceted as a person and I didn’t want to be “just” a Musical Theatre performer.’ She went to an open audition for Motown the Musical, making her West End debut at 19. ‘I had a great time gallivanting around as an onstage swing. Some people asked why I left to do a musical after saying I didn’t want to be pigeonholed in musicals but it gave me my first credit and the experience. Sometimes I wish I’d stayed in training but I might go back at some point.’

Sisters and aunties

Gift played one third of the ‘Radio’ in Michael Longhurst’s production of Caroline, or Change, with a cast led by Sharon D Clarke. Gift comments: ‘I’ve been blessed with a core sisterhood of other Black female performers. Being surrounded by contemporaries and older women has made me the performer I am today. I call Sharon and her wife Susie McKenna my aunties; she took me under her wing and taught me about my worth and how to be a conscious performer and how to embody a character. At the opening night of Two Strangers at the Kiln, it was like hugging long-lost relatives.’

Dujonna Gift plays Robin in Two Strangers, a role she reprises at the Criterion (Image credit: Marc Brenner)

Expectations and adrenaline

Gift was working front of house and taking a break in Nando’s when she learned she’ d been cast in Hamilton. She recalls: ‘I didn’t know how to react because I’d reached a good place managing my expectations. When you tell yourself you need something, rejection is harder to swallow. I hadn’t seen the show, even though I had lots of friends in it, because I didn’t want to get too attached to wanting to be in it. It didn’t sink in until the first run-through.’ In ‘ Track W5’, Gift covered all three Schuyler sisters: Eliza on her first week, which ‘kind of went viral ’; Peggy shortly after and, finally, Angelica with about 20 minutes’ notice. ‘Adrenaline really got me through it! It was one of my favourite jobs because I was challenged every night – I never knew who I was going to be.’

New York state of mind

Gift has several relatives in New York (no wonder she’s a natural in American roles) but made a special visit after being cast in Two Strangers to experience it from her character Robin’s perspective. ‘Flatbush, Brooklyn, where Robin is from, is so different from Manhattan where she now lives. Going there helped me to come up with answers and create a fully realised Robin – and I ’m still developing her. From the moment you’re offered a job, you can do it. It ’s about telling yourself that you’re capable and delivering the best possible performance eight times a week. A two-hander is hard work and you can prepare as much as you want but it all comes together when you’re with your partner. Luckily Sam and I bounce off each other so easily.’

Disney and diversifying

In 2025, Gift will be seen in Disney’s liveaction remake of Snow White starring Rachel Zegler. Details are under wraps but Gift can tell us that she plays Maple, ‘the only woman in a group of seven people. She’s a lovely character and very cool ’. Her dream role in a musical is Celie in The Color Purple. Above all, Gift is passionate about the development of new musicals like Two Strangers and Musical Theatre actors not being stereotyped. ‘We can do so much, and being told we can’t do other kinds of acting is really upsetting. Hannah Waddingham has talked about this brilliantly. I hope to see those walls broken down in the next few years’.

Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York) plays at the Criterion Theatre, London until 31 August 2024 – visit twostrangersthemusical.com

This article originally appeared in the April/May 2024 issue of Musicals magazine. Never miss an issue – subscribe today