"Here in Adelaide, and with support from the Fringe and beyond, Snelling is forging a path in the arts that aligns uncannily with the one she envisioned in the middle of a pandemic, far away on a farm in rural Victoria."
Thanks for the beautiful article on my theatre-making career, my mentoring biz, how I ended up in Adelaide and that magical thing I dreamed up during my hermit days back in 2020...… Click here to read.
I am kicking off the new year with a bang, working on four awesome theatre projects for Adelaide Fringe 2022. I am directing Bettong and Buddies, a kids’ show featuring live, native animals at Star Theatre, then a regional SA tour. I am returning to my role as co-director of Same-Same 2.0 for No Strings Attached Theatre of Disability as we work towards back-to-back-seasons at New Zealand Fringe and Adelaide Fringe.
I am also assisting April Albert on her not-to-be-missed double bill Kapitalism is Your Friend! and Hildegard/Knef at the Bakehouse Theatre. And the fourth show I’m working on involves dramaturgy and mentoring for Kathryn Hall on her debut solo show Sheltered at Parks Theatre.
It’s so lovely to be helping other artists shine on stage this year, while I perform a different role to usual!
Announcing my new biz! KICK UP THE ARTS Creative Mentoring.
Do you need a good kick up the arts? Let me be your cheerleader! I’ve been accidentally mentoring artists for a few years now and it turns out it’s one of my favourite things to do. Artists are always calling me.
“Andi, how do you overcome your fears and share so vulnerably on stage?”
“Andi, can you look over my grant app?”
“Andi, do you think a fake octopus or rubber chicken would work best for this scene?”
“Andi, when you’re pitching to a venue, do you tell them your fee straight away?”
“Andi, how do I get started writing my own show?”
“Andi, how do I sell my show on social media without feeling like a used car salesman?”
“Andi, how do I deal with my creative blocks?”
“Andi, how do you put on a show with a chronic illness?”
“Andi, you should be charging for this.”
“Andi, how much do you charge?”
I’m currently working with 5 artists from different parts of Australia and would love to cheer on more.
So... Do you need a good kick up the arts?
#KickUpTheArts
www.kickupthearts.com.au
Recorded a thing for a thing today! Yup! I also do voice-over work. I’ve been the voice of Qatar Airways Inflight Entertainment, voiced a bunch of characters in multiple accents and languages, voiced docos, and my all-time fave, voicing Edith in Picnic at Hanging Rock (The Radio Play) for the BBC (yes, I got to run in circles screaming “Miraaaanndddaaaaa!!!” in the BBC London studios!) Voice work is fun cos you get to play so many roles you’d never get to play based on your appearance. More of this, please and thanks.
I am so excited to announce that I have joined the board at No Strings Attached Theatre of Disability. No Strings is a world-class theatre company that proudly works exclusively with performers living with disability based in Adelaide, South Australia. The company is redefining perceptions around disability through powerful theatre.
It is finally here - the Happy-Go-Wrong mini doco! Come take a peek behind the curtain at my incredible life-saving journey of creating this show from the depths of despair to five awards, standing ovations, sell-out seasons and “people crying at me in the foyer!”
Thanks to Tim Phillipps from Eat.Media for the videography and Michael Healey for the direction.
I am delighted to share that my poem about the changes to my brain since Lyme disease has been published in the Teesta Review Journal volume 4, number 1. You can read All the Precious Time here.
Clich HERE to read the beautiful, detailed interview I did recently with City Mag Adelaide. I share the fateful story behind my full-blown illness journey and how that very story now unfolds on stage live before an audience in Happy-Go-Wrong. This is a nice one.
“Illness has a powerful way of weeding the garden. At its most intense, my illness cleared out relationships, work, my arts practice, all my money, everything… leaving with me with a feeling of having nothing. I thought my life might be over, but it was precisely from this place of nothing that I started to see everything.
There’s a line in my show that continues to resonate: “Once you have the wisdom of death, you can’t go back… and why would you want to?” It’s funny how being thrown upside down can put you the right way up!”
Broadway World has written an article on my solo show, Happy-Go-Wrong at Adelaide Fringe 2021.
“After the greatest 'accident' of my life - a tiny tick bite - turned my world upside down, I was surprised to discover that such soaring joy could exist alongside unfathomable struggle, to the point where I began to wonder if this accident was, in fact, no accident. As I continue to fight for my health, and seek out the happy in all the wrong, Happy-Go-Wrong is a lifeline that shines a light on the invisible battles that so many face on a daily basis. It is also my spirited way of saying thanks for still being alive.”
Check out the full article HERE.
My solo show Happy-Go-Wrong will perform its SA Tour Ready Award-winning season at Adelaide Fringe in 2 months. Tickets are now on sale via HERE. With rave reviews, standing ovations and making multiple 'Best Of 2019' lists, this show is simply unmissable.
I am proud to share my writing commission for Delving into Dance entitled ‘Dancing with Danger.’ It’s a poetic essay with art photography interwoven that gives the reader a behind-the-scenes peek into my experience as a performer living with an invisible illness. Shania Twain also gets a mention. Enjoy!
Click HERE to read.
Tune in to my episode on The Right-Brain Warm-Up Podcast, where I talk about CREATIVITY and how to coax it! (“Here, Kitty!”)
Hosted by the awesome Alex Wadelton, The Right-Brain Warm-Up will help you to re-energise your creative side with hints, tips, and insights from some of Australia's most creative people.
To listen, simply click one of these links: iTunes, Spotify, Google
Today, I had my first acting gig in a lockdown-long time. I am the narration voice for an exciting new wildlife doco! What a joy to do the thing I love most for a few hours before returning to my cave.
I am delighted to announce that I am the recipient of a full scholarship to attend this year’s Progress conference. Progress is Australia’s largest social change conference and convenes more than 2,000+ leading advocates, change-makers, storytellers, philanthropists and activists from across Australia and around the world who work for progressive social change. This year the conference takes place online and together, we will explore big ideas, cutting-edge strategies, practical skills and opportunities for cross-sector collaborations led by experts, practitioners and thought-leaders in social change. Thanks to Australian Progress for this incredible opportunity.
I’ve never been a 3-page spread before! Here I am talking ART + DISABILITY in the autumn issue of Inform magazine.
“The majority of my life is still spent treating and managing Lyme disease and I sometimes despair that I may never be able to make the amount of art I wish to and in the ways I wish to. It’s a constant, ongoing obstacle course which I pull myself through and I try to keep reminding myself that what I have achieved under such trying circumstances has been pretty incredible so far. I have a lot of hope… The process of creating the show [Happy-Go-Wrong], as well as the show itself, has ended up playing a huge role in me turning my life around from the ground up. Art is powerful like that.”
To read the full in-depth interview, click HERE.
Here’s me on the Project Better Podcast where I talk about why I’m happy to go wrong and get real about my double life as a passionate performer and full-time sick chick.
We get right into the vulnerable depths of my struggles living with an invisible illness - Lyme disease - and the extraordinary survival superpowers I have developed, thanks to my love of creative expression and my show Happy-Go-Wrong.
In my former life, I never would have imagined I’d have so much to share on a Health & Wellness podcast, but such are the unexpected quirks of years of guinea-pigging on my body!
Honestly, I love podcasts so much and it was such a pleasure to riff with these two legends!
To take a listen, click HERE.
Note: This was recorded in October 2019.
I’m in the paper today as part of The Age’s important series on ‘Artists in the Time of COVID19’. It gives voice to the challenged Arts sector and makes the experiences of artists accessible to the mainstream at a time when it feels like our role in the world has been forgotten.
So I got interviewed many weeks ago, just after scrambling back home from New Zealand. I spoke about the unexpected poignant timing of performing Happy-Go-Wrong which is about the great lessons sickness has taught me and the extraordinary resilience we don’t know we have in us til we’re put to the test. A show about how much you realise you have when everything is taken away from you and you have to start over. About how freakin’ amazing it is to simply be alive.
I spoke at length about how familiar this all already is to many in the chronic illness and disability community; about how I’ve learnt to find possibility in my years of restriction and how this now makes me oddly well-equipped for this pandemic.
I also spoke of the government’s neglect of the Arts industry in the various support packages put forth and how it is art we turn to at such times to save our sanity and show us the mirror of ourselves. I expressed (possibly naive) hope for a newfound appreciation of the Arts during this time, but also the fear that artists are so used to having to get by on their own, that this default robustness may sadly backfire and see us left, yet again, to fend for ourselves.
Of course, journos have certain agendas they need to honour, limited print spaces and the ever-increasing pressure for click-worthy grabs, so the article doesn’t quite capture it all as I experienced it, but it’s nonetheless great to see my work, indie theatre and Lyme disease get some coverage in these information-crowded times. (And hey, I’m next to John Gielgud, so no complaints from me, baby!)
Hope you enjoy the read! 🙌
TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE, CLICK HERE
Andi Snelling arrives on the… carpet, by the hanging washing, here at the 37th Annual Green Room Awards. Her shadow cuts its shape across the Lazy Susan in the corner which nobody has used since Xmas 3 years ago. She emanates all the pride of a first-time nominee, as a reporter approaches: “Who styled you, Ms Snelling?” “Officeworks,” she replies, as she stumble-saunters alone in her isolated suburban home.
While I didn’t take out any awards tonight, I remain utterly chuffed to have been nominated in two categories for Best Performer and Best Writing in Independent Theatre 2019. It is a huge feat to make the shortlist and I heartily congratulate all the winners. The full list of nominees and winners is HERE.
Happy-Go-Wrong was lucky enough to just squeeze in its New Zealand Fringe 2020 season before theatres shut down. It was a strange and poignant time to be on stage, sharing a show about the powerful lessons great sickness can teach us. I was blown away by the beautiful full houses, standing ovations and audience members who stayed behind to talk to me or who later messaged me online about the impact my show had on them. To top it all off, I won Best Marketing award which was an unexpected delight!
Happy-Go-Wrong has enjoyed another stellar season with full houses and incredible responses by its kiwi audience. I received two reviews, both utterly mind-blowing. I put in a lot of work after my premiere season on re-writes and tighten the dramaturgical structure of the show, and am delighted that it has really paid off. Take a gander below:
