Tessa Waters Bondi Feast Interview

Tessa Waters Bondi Feast Interview

Sydney's favourite indie pop-up winter festival Bondi Feast is back - bigger and better than ever with 40 shows and 158 artists over a two week period at the iconic Bondi Pavilion.

Hosted by Waverley Council, the Pavilion will come alive with the best of comedy, theatre, music, visual arts and food from 18-29 July to help Sydneysiders shake off those winter blues.

Artists from all over Australia will fill every corner of the famous venue on five stages for ten unforgettable nights.

Now in its fifth year, the festival is known and trusted by locals and tourists for showcasing the best of Australia's home-grown talents.

From stand-up comedy to improvised musicals, satire, sci-fi cabaret, performance art, apocalyptic walking tours, dramatic drag, a contemporary chamber opera, a cappella singing, 24-hour plays, fresh indie music, feminist power plays, Alanis Morissette sing-a-longs and an aerobics dance party - there's something for the young, old and everyone in-between.

A pop-up bar with food will be on-site for the two weeks featuring a new food vendor every night from 6pm to close.

Mayor of Waverley, Sally Betts says Waverly Council is delighted to present this festival to the community.

'The Bondi Pavilion is the cultural heart of Bondi. This event gives opportunities for artists and audiences to create, share and enjoy a truly vibrant creative offering here in Waverley."

'We're also extremely excited to welcome back co-artistic directors Rachel Chant and Phil Spencer, who have done a wonderful job securing such high calibre artists."

Festival Directors, Rachel Chant & Phil Spencer say it's the place to be this winter.

'The 2017 festival is the most exciting and eclectic program to date. Not to mention the largest! With 40 quality shows to choose from!

'At Bondi Feast, we make it our business to chock the Pav full of the finest joke merchants, storytellers, entertainers and art makers from across the country." Rachel said.

'We'll also be transforming the venue into a winter wonderland – making the Bondi Pavilion somewhere that you'll want to rock up, grab a bite, sip a mulled wine and feast on a menu of sensational live shows across the fortnight." Phil said.

Bondi Feast
Date: 18 – 29 July (Tuesday – Saturday nights)
Location: Bondi Pavilion, Queen Elizabeth Dr, Bondi Beach
Price: Free - $20

Tickets: www.bondifeast.com.au

Interview with Tessa Waters

WOMANz is a disco goddess sent from the stars to bring you a night of love, joy and big hair. Shining the spotlight on ridiculous gender stereotypes and dancing them out of the door under a spinning disco ball. In this multi-ward winning comedy Tessa Waters combines dance, physical theatre, clown, and cheeky costumes in a life affirming celebration of the body, the booty and love. Come party with WOMANz as she dances you through her world of wobbly, femmy, sexy, lovey, arty, grindy good bits.

Question: What is Bondi Feast?

Tessa Waters: Bondi Feast is an exciting winter festival for Sydney featuring some of the best arts, cabaret, comedy and theatre Australia has to offer. You have world traveled multi award winning artist like myself and Stuart Bowden presenting established acclaimed work alongside new and exciting emerging artist taking risks and leading the way. It's also just a bloody good time!


Question: Why did you choose to participate in Bondi Feast?

Tessa Waters: This is only my second Sydney season and the first time I will be presenting all three of my solo shows together at once. I was drawn to the festival as it seemed like a really exciting organisation doing something really unique and different for Sydney and allowed me to bring my own brand of comedy to new audiences.


Question: How would you describe WOMANz?

Tessa Waters: WOMANz is a disco diva goddess sent from the stars to bring joy and empowerment to you and your body. Through dance, comedy and loads of hairspray and sequins she will dance you inhibitions out the door under the spinning disco ball.


Question: Where do you find inspiration when creating performances?

Tessa Waters: When making a new show I usually start with music and an image, I find tunes I really love or that tickle me and make me dream around them. They create a character or an image for a scene in my imagination and then I work that bit in front of a willing audience until I discover what it is meant to be and slowly but surely the show comes into being. For WOMANz there was a lot of Shirley Bassey, Latin Samba music and Madonna.


Question: How can we celebrate our body, today?

Tessa Waters: By owning it, by accepting yourself, being aware and unpacking all the programming you have been bombarded with, especially for Women but for Men as well. Imagine if your main focus was on feeling good, not looking good! Imagine what freedom that would give you to be yourself! We all have weird wonderful gorgeous wobbly, pointy, curves, noisey bodies so why not cut the shit and get on with enjoying them and not trying to subscribe to some 'perfect' way of being.


Question: What do you love about Bondi Feast?

Tessa Waters: I'm not sure yet this is my first time! I'm looking forward to discovering new audiences, for having fun in Bondi and connecting with my carnie family there.


Question: Who are you looking forward to seeing at Bondi Feast?

Tessa Waters: Stuart Bowden is one of my favourite artists and theatre makers in the whole world. His work is genuine, heartfelt and weird and should not be missed.


Question: Do you have any pre-show rituals?

Tessa Waters: I dance, the adrenalin starts pumping, the nerves kick in and the only thing that will keep me grounded and ready for the show is to have a little boogie. I have a kick ass playlist for each show which gets me in the mood and sometime my venue techs and front of house crew will join in and we'll have a little disco.

Question: What's a typical day like, for you?

Tessa Waters: I tour a fair bit so it's hard to find a 'typical' day in the life of a carnie comedian. For example today I started with a 20k walk workout, did some writing for my new show, met with Melbourne Fringe Producers to work through a plan for a new kids show, met with some other comedians on a line up show we're putting together, met with one of my mentorees about helping with his latest project, went to the opening night of Map57 Festival in St Kilda, and managed to sneak in some late night admin to get ready for kicking things off again in the morning... nonstop.


Interview by Brooke Hunter