By CASEY NEILL
CANDY Bowers is making waves on the world stage but still calls Dandenong home.
Circus Oz head-hunted the performer to MC its latest show But Wait… There’s More!, which will hit the Drum Theatre stage this week and features original music and skits.
“It will remind you of all the great things about circus,” Candy said.
“It’s a really Aussie circus, too, so it’s funny.”
Her parents moved to Australia from South Africa and she was born at Dandenong Hospital in 1979.
“I love that I’m an international artist that was born in Dandenong,” she said.
“I have beautiful memories of my street in Burchall Grove, growing up.
“It was a really mixed neighbourhood – another South African family at the end of the street, our Dutch neighbours with immaculate gardens, Italians, Greeks, Aussies all mixed in.
“We’d always be putting on plays – the whole street, all the kids.
“I went to Seena Bird Dance Academy which was in the Uniting Church.
“A lot of my notes say ‘work on the technique, excellent smile, very enthusiastic’.”
Candy moved to New South Wales at age 10 because Victoria didn’t recognise her mum’s primary school teacher qualifications from South Africa.
The family settled in Campbelltown which she said was similar to Dandenong in a lot of ways.
“Small towns, suburban towns, socioeconomically disadvantaged – all that kind of stuff,” Candy said.
“I think it’s cool that kids can go ‘anything’s possible’. You could end up travelling the world and being a performer.”
Candy has hosted multicultural celebration the Emerge Festival at the Drum and opened Harmony Square in April last year.
“There’s a real acknowledgement in the diverse cultures here,” she said.
“When I turn on the TV I think ‘what’s this Australia? This isn’t the one I grew up in’.
“So when I get back to Dandy I think ‘we should make more art here, we should make TV shows here’.
“It was very cool to see how connected the communities were and how supported they were by places like the Drum and the library and the council.”
Candy studied acting at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts (NIDA) in Sydney.
“One of the first things I created was an act called Sista She and it was a hip hop comedy act,” she said.
“We did a six minute bit at a friend’s cabaret.
“We got picked up to write a full-length show for the Sydney Opera House. That was our first big break.
“It was just pre-YouTube and Facebook and all that so I often wonder how well we would do if that stuff was going on as well.”
Radio station Triple J picked up and promoted the act’s music.
“It was very unusual – two girls, comics and also having fun with Aussie hip hop,” she said.
“After that I went on to write a couple of solo works that I toured around the country with and just recently went to South Africa as well.”
She’s also performed in the UK and America and written comedy for television.
After Circus Oz, Candy will be producing a soul and hip hop version of Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night and heading back to South Africa for another tour.
“I’ve got a couple of works that I’ll hopefully get around Australia and the world for teenagers,” she said.
“There’s also a little duo web series I’m working on out of LA with a comic from there.
“Sometimes I have to catch myself! But it’s good.”
Circus Oz: But Wait … There’s More! will hit the Drum Theatre, corner Lonsdale and Walker streets, Dandenong, at 8pm on Friday 21 August and 2pm and 8pm on Saturday 22 August.
Tickets are priced from $45.
Visit www.drumtheatre.com.au to book.
