It’s time for Bondi Feast

words by james phillips

I love a good feast, be it a Christmas feast, a Sunday arvo feast or my personal favourite… The Bondi Feast.

It’s a feast of a different flavour – not the typical gorging session you stuff your face full of food but instead a feast of creativity and originality where you’re eyes and mind are dazzled from start to finish, with your tastebuds not left behind either.

Heralded as Sydney’s unofficial Fringe Festival”, Bondi Feast is back in a big way in 2017 for its fifth instalment. After taking a year off in 2016, the city’s favourite pop-up festival of home-grown theatre, art, music, storytelling, visual arts and hot food will be kicking back into gear this July as part of Bondi’s Winter Magic Festival.

Across two weeks from 18-29 July, the festival will completely take over and transform the Bondi Pavilion into a carnival playground – a feast for the senses. Bondi Feast will showcase over 60 performances of new independent, unusual and boundary-breaking work and experiments by over 150 different artists from around Australia.

Having begun as a project of Tamarama Rock Surfers in 2012, the festival has evolved from a theatre-focused festival into a more diverse program that includes cabaret, comedy and delectable food & drink.

Some of the best bits:

The 24 Hour Party Playwright – The ultimate playwright challenge. Six playwrights, armed with laptops, inspirational objects and a shitload of coffee will write six new, never before seen or produced short plays, hand them over to the director by brekky and perform for the audience that night. It doesn’t get any fresher than that.

Exclusion Zone Walking Tour – Led by playwright and game designer Caleb Lewis, the hour-long journey will set out from base camp (Bondi Pavilion) into the back streets of Bondi, mapping the city unseen and investigating reports of recent unaccountable crypto-cartographic activity.

Gala Night – This will be one solid hour of booty-shaking comedy, beat-boxing mischief, ukulele jams and zinging punchlines as the best of the producers cram snippets from the festival into one monster bill.

Food – Every year there is an array of foodies that set up shop in the Pav for a tasty treat between any show. Some of the best local talent will tantalise your taste buds with flavours from all parts of the globe. Bondi Rumba will be offering up the Latin love, The German Hut will be serving up the best of the fatherland, Omomo will be crafting up a new angle of Nepalese dining and Paella Del Mar will take you from you on a culinary journey with a contemporary fusion of paella and tapas.

Drink – Every night from 6.00pm there will be a pop-up bar serving all your favourite liquid delights. With happy hour from 6-7pm, the temperature is perfect for some mulled cider.

Tickets and all the event info HERE