I am absolutely delighted to share the news that I have been nominated for two Green Room Awards in the Independent Theatre of 2019 category: Best Performer and Best Writing for Happy-Go-Wrong! This is a huge honour to be up there amongst some incredibly talented writers and performers. Congrats to all nominees.
Some jaw-dropping news!
Happy-Go-Wrong has found its way onto several ‘Best Of’ lists for 2019.
The show has been named an “indie highlight” of 2019 by The Age critic Cameron Woodhead in his reflection on memorable theatre from the year: “Happy-Go-Wrong laid bare the fate of an artist struck down by chronic illness.”
The show has come in at #7 (out of 199!) on prolific theatre critic My Melbourne Arts’ Top Ten Shows of 2019. “Happy-Go-Wrong drew the audience into the reality of living with a chronic illness and when Snelling sung her original song, “You Are Alive”, we were motionless, transfixed by a moment of pure emotion and truth.”
The show has also made critic Keith Gow’s Best Shows of 2019: “Andi Snelling’s very personal show about her own invisible illness that opens up a discussion about disability and the arts. Beautifully theatrical.”
And there’s also plenty of love for the show over at critic Anne-Marie Peard’s What Melbourne Loved 2019: “Happy-Go-Wrong was an incredibly moving and beautiful celebration of life!” “…a deeply personal story about invisible illness, without it feeling at all indulgent – an utterly mesmerising, moving piece of theatre.”
I feel very lucky!
Attending Meeting Place - Australia’s annual forum for arts, culture and disability - has been an incredible experience. I got to speak on two panels talking about my solo show Happy-Go-Wrong and my life as a performer/theatre-maker living with chronic illness, as well as run a very special workshop as part of the Crip The Stage program, curated by powerhouse performer and disability activist, Hanna Cormick. Of course, I also met and networked with loads of other extraordinary artists and arts workers from all around Australia, and attended many other panels, workshops, exhibitions and events.
It was particularly poignant spending International Day of People with Disability running a workshop on Performative Metaphor as a tool to make visible the invisible: Let’s Get Visible using Performative Metaphor. All the participants gave of themselves generously and threw themselves into play with my reams of brown paper from my show Happy-Go-Wrong. Together, we invented some powerful metaphors for some of our deepest inner secrets around our varying disability experiences. It was super messy fun!
On the final evening, I was lucky to attend the inaugural National Arts and Disability Awards by Australia Council at the National Gallery of Australia.
I am grateful to Arts Access Australia for awarding me a Travel Grant which enabled me to attend and I hope to attend more Meeting Places in the future.
I’m delighted to share the news that I have been asked to present at Meeting Place 2019 - Australia’s annual forum for arts, culture and disability. This incredible opportunity will see me lead a workshop as part of the “Crip the Stage: Performance and Disability” program, as well as speak on two panel discussions about my life as a performer living with chronic illness and, in particular, about my solo show Happy-Go-Wrong. Thanks to a Travel Grant supported by Arts Access Australia, I will head to Canberra in early December where I cannot wait to share my story and learn from the many artists and industry leaders who will also be present.
I submitted a poem to a thing and it got published in the thing! Look out for “Love Love” in n-Scribe 14 (Darebin’s annual anthology of new works). You can see from the pics below at the launch how chuffed I am!
My new solo show Happy-Go-Wrong enjoyed a completely sold-out season at Melbourne Fringe and received incredible audience feedback, standing ovations and rave reviews. I am extremely proud that, out of the 455 shows/events on at the festival, Happy-Go-Wrong won the prestigious SA Tour Ready Award supported by Adelaide Fringe! Below are a smattering of the beautiful reviews the show has received so far.
A certain someone flew in for a few episodes as a special guest on Kids’ WB TV (9GO!) I enjoyed talking all things extinction-fighting and animal poo in my role as zooperhero Zoopergirl with Presenters Lauren Phillips and Andy Sunderland. Yup. I’ve been wearing lycra my whole life and so the trend continues. Check out one of the eps below...
Recognise a certain painter renovator there?
Brinda has had quite a time recently with her beloved Erinsborough Community Centre suffering a gas attack! But she has also been enjoying hanging out at Harold’s Cafe.
Once again, I’m feeling super grateful to be a (small) part of the Neighbours family and feel lucky that my initial role which first aired back in 2017 has continued to pop in and out over the years. It really is a fun, nurturing environment to work in as an actor. Total dream team!
My exciting new solo show Happy-Go-Wrong will have its development season this May as part of La Mama Explorations 2019. This show is not only experimental artistically, but also physically for me with my chronically ill body. It’s my first time back on stage with a new work in years. I’m very proud. It’s a beautiful gem of a show which is driven by my own real-life navigation of struggle and mortality through my illness and the extraordinary resilience which us humans often don’t realise we have in us until we are put to the test. As is my Andi way, the show blends physical theatre with clowning and plunges deep into existentialism, while remaining a comedy with pathos. I promise you’ll have as much fun as you will meaningful reflection with this one! It’s on Fri 17th, Sat 18th & Sun 19th May, 7:30pm at The Burrow, Fitzroy and you can book HERE.
The show must go wr..on..g? (image: Darren Gill)
I recently appeared on Channel 31 TV doing my debut “Stand Up” routine. You could say, it left me speechless and floored…
I have recently had the privilege of choreographing and dancing in a beautiful Music Video for Price Park’s ambient new track Fire. It was a joy to be directed by Max Miller on this special project which we shot under a Full Moon in front of a stunning roaring fire.
Have you heard the news? Brinda from Kinder is back on Neighbours! It was great to return to the famous Nunawading studios and shoot with the awesome Erinsborough crew and to say hi again to Nell, whose teacher I am!
Sonya and Nell are happy to see kindy teacher, Brinda.
But there's some confusion and Brinda's got bad news for them...
I have been feverishly ferreting away this March-April at my Risk Residency at the Darebin Arts Centre, supported by Darebin Council. It's my first time in 1.5 years back in a rehearsal room getting creative. It's been so fulfilling having this amazing opportunity to take creative risks with such freedom and support from Darebin Arts. I've been exploring themes of overcoming adversity, inspired by my own experience of navigating chronic Lyme disease and the daily struggle for survival this has thrust upon me. I feel art has a powerful capacity to make the experience of invisible illness more visible, whilst magically bringing humanity together through the distance of the abstract. It has been a fruitful period in which I now feel inspired to create my third solo work, which I anticipate will blend contemporary dance and clowning in ugly-beautiful comedic bliss.
I haven't danced for a long time due to chronic Lyme disease but I randomly decided to see how my body might move on a "good day." I experienced breathlessness, muscle pain and exhaustion from this short improvisation experiment. All of these things are probably invisible to the viewer. Hence, I'm currently interested in exploring how an artist with newfound limitations on their body can still find ways to make their art. Watch this space.
Today I was honoured to participate in a compelling Artists' Lab run by Arts Centre Melbourne called The Deep Dive which delved into neurodiversity in art, particularly performance. We learnt and dissected the art, arts practices and creative processes of some of Australia's leading neurodiverse artists and allies. It was wonderfully hands-on and got me challenging the assumptions which conventional artistic expression makes, as well as reflecting on my own work. I connected with some incredible artists and companies who I look forward to collaborating with in the future.
Today, I participated in an awesome Movement Uncovered workshop, run by Frantic Assembly/Arts Centre Melbourne at Dancehouse. It was really great learning the physical exercises and techniques employed by the Frantic Assembly company. They're out at the moment touring The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, which I loved. I learnt how to fly just like Christopher and really clicked with movement director Delphine Gaborit who gave me a lovely compliment at the end of the workshop on my performance style. This was the first time in a very long time that I moved my body again and it felt so joyous.
Me flying at the Frantic Assembly workshop! (Photo: Joshua Cowie)
I was a Guest Comedian on the super fun news and current affairs quiz show, The Leak Quiz Night which aired on Channel 31 last night. Of course, I was not at all competitive. Not. At. All. I didn't win the prized wheel of cheese, but I was definitely cheesy.
The full episode can be viewed in 3 parts on YouTube: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.
If you've ever wondered who Erinsborough's kindergarten teacher is then look no further! It is Brinda Appadoo (played by yours truly) who, in her debut episode, lays it all on the line for Sonya and Toadie...
I have recently completed a 6-week clown training course with the Melbourne Community Clown Troupe, headed by the fantastic Liz Skitch at Westside Circus. As a physical performer with loads of comedy experience, I took to this training like a clown to a red nose, literally. I find it so useful as a theatre-maker to experience many different performance styles and clowning is definitely a growing passion of mine. Sometimes, the simple and seemingly silly can reveal humanity on a scale far greater than any complex drama. This is why I find clowning so wonderfully deceiving in its power.
Here I am in all my idiotic glory! (Image: Nayt Housman)
