Sharon Rotimi’s professional acting career is in its foundational stage, but the actress believes in taking all potential shots at reaching her desired peak. One such shot involves projecting her talent through an unusual approach to storytelling, daring to be different in a fascinating way. This thought birthed her latest monologue series, All The Women In Me.
All The Women In Me is rooted in the stories of certain Biblical female characters whose lives are laden with lessons for women in the world. With Sharon Rotimi herself playing the role of each female character, the monologue series reimagines the predicaments of the Biblical women, spotlighting the significance of their narrations to modern women.
Born on April 21, 1996, Sharon Rotimi grew up in a home as the eldest of three children. She studied Nursing immediately after her secondary education and became a registered nurse at 18. She wanted to study Medicine but settled for Zoology at the Obafemi Awolowo University. Though she hoped to travel abroad with her nursing certificate, she found a passion in acting and she is currently striving to make a name for herself.
In this interview with Sharon, she talks about the inspiration behind her monologue series, All The Women In Me, and her collaboration with the writer of the series, Nneoha Edeh.
All The Women in Me is rooted in the stories of certain Biblical female characters. What made you decide to replicate the experiences of these women?
First off, I’m not telling their stories. Last year, I was in church for a special program when I had the idea. I was thinking of what to do next regarding my career, and it made sense to put monologues out. I was praying when it occurred to me to do monologues inspired by women in the Bible. It was particularly interesting to me because if you are familiar with Bible stories and history, you will know it was written during a very patriarchal time. Not many Biblical stories are women-centered. We have just a few Bible books that have women at the center of the stories. These women’s stories are usually about the men in their lives. I’m not just making feminist statements in disagreement with the Bible because I understand the times and context. However, I did find the stories of these women interesting and wanted to be in their shoes for a few minutes. That’s why I said I am not presenting these women as villains or heroes. It’s just important to present them as humans.
Do the experiences of these Biblical women resonate with your personal story?
I find this question interesting because our stories are not necessarily similar. But there are some experiences that I and other women out there relate to. That’s why I titled it All The Women In Me. In some way, there are some things the Biblical women went through that I relate with. For example, Dinar was sexually abused. Many women in our society have gone through what she experienced. I kept thinking while reading the story that everyone seemed to be so concerned about how these events affected them. Another character is Rahab, who was a prostitute in the Bible. What makes her story interesting is what she did for the Israelite spies. If you relate all that happened in the Bible to the present, it would just seem unlikely for anyone to think much of a prostitute. Interestingly, this same prostitute is in Jesus’s genealogy.
What informed your collaboration with the writer, Nneoma Edeh, of this monologue series?
It made a lot of sense that it would be Nneoma Edeh. I first thought of another friend who had spoken to me earlier. I shared the idea with her but she wanted something else. The more I thought and prayed about the idea, it just made absolute sense when Nneoma came to my mind. I didn’t know her personally, but I had been reading her writings for the past one or two years. She’s a brilliant storyteller, a feminist, and a Christian. So all these pieces just made her the right person that understand my vision. One of the things I communicated to her about the idea was that I was not trying to paint the audience’s perceptions about women. She got that perfectly.
Are there intentions to weave your monologue series into a feature film?
That’s not a bad idea. To be honest, I’ve not thought of it that far. Currently, there are five monologue episodes. Nneoma wrote eight altogether. I was thinking of making more of the series, so there’s season two, three, etc. But now that you mentioned a feature, it doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
Could you lead us into your acting background?
I’ve been in the business officially for three years, but I only started getting roles last year. I’ve done three series, several short films, and two feature films. Only one of the series is currently out on Showmax. One of the short films I did was directed by Tolu Lord Tanner. It is in post-production and expected in the second or third quarter of the year.