Cabaret Festival

Interview: Libby O’Donovan – Bringing Sister Elizabeth To Adelaide

Ben Stefanoff interviews Cabaret performer Libby O’Donovan about her upcoming Cabaret Festival show, “Sister Elizabeth”

Julie Andrews and Whoopi Goldberg have something in common with South Australian Cabaret superstar, Libby O’Donovan……nuns. Having grown up with priests for parents, Libby has always had an interest in nuns, and her new show at this year’s Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Sister Elizabeth, unpacks her holy fascination with them.

I was lucky enough to catch up with Libby to unpack her nun obsession and to find out what led her down the path of Cabaret performing.

“I guess it started organically for me. I was brought up in the Church, and both of my parents are priests, so it’s sort of an uncharted rite of passage in a way. When you grow up in the Church you just sing all of the time as a family, community or congregation. I didn’t consider it as a career option because it’s something I’ve just always done. When I was a teenager, I discovered that this thing I found so joyful could be made into a career! I was so thrilled. So, I started performing at around 14, and joined a band when I was 16 doing jazz and blues gigs through the Barossa and McLaren Vale. It just grew from there. When I moved into cabaret over 20 years ago, I found it was where I sat the best because cabaret is such a broad spectrum of what you can do; it’s so spontaneous, political and can be about anything you want it to be. I just love that about it. It really suits my personality and what I like to do.”

This year marks Libby’s 22nd appearance at the Adelaide Cabaret Festival, which is a huge achievement. I was keen to find out if Libby had advice for anyone who had an interest in getting into the world of cabaret performing.

“It’s about authenticity and storytelling. Get out and see as much cabaret as possible and see what other people do. Something will speak to you. There’s no one way of doing cabaret, which is brilliant. It’s not structured, but more an expression of self through songs, stories and other elements. It can be anything from a straight tribute to a performance art piece. Get out and see as much as you can and soak it up, and if you decide you’d like to get into cabaret performing, start by writing something that is true to you.”

After so many years in the industry and countless shows under her belt, what sparks Libby’s inspiration to create new works?

“I have one of those brains that just constantly thinks of new things to do. Honestly, if something lands in my brain, I make it happen. I am constantly inspired and constantly thinking of new things to do all the time. It’s really exciting to have a platform like the Adelaide Cabaret Festival because they encourage new shows and premieres as part of the program. I can’t stop my brain and tend to let it run. I have a lot of fun with it.”

At this year’s Cabaret Festival Gala Performance, Libby was awarded the 2022 Icon Award. This award places Libby in the company of cabaret greats including: Reg Livermore AO (2013), Rhonda Burchmore (2014), Frank Ford AM (2015), Robyn Archer (2016), Debra Byrne (2017), David Bates (2018), Meow Meow (2019), David Campbell (2020), and Paul Capsis (2021).

“It was an absolutely amazing honour and I feel so blessed and humbled by it. I am surrounded by amazing company with the past recipients of that award. They are huge icons for me as incredible people and cabaret performers themselves. It made me feel so grateful to be in this art form and to be producing work constantly, and then to have that recognition is a really beautiful little boost.”

At this year’s Cabaret Festival, Libby will be premiering a brand new show, Sister Elizabeth. What are audiences going to experience in this new work?

“I have always been fascinated by nuns. I grew up around a lot of nuns, we had a lot of nuns visit us, and we stayed in convents when went on holidays, and what I love is the difference between all the nuns I grew up with and knew, compared to the nuns that pop culture portrays and how we think of nuns. There’s all these great films, tv shows, magazines and books that portray nuns in a certain kind of way, and a lot of these films have incredible music attached to them in some way, like The Sound Of Music, The Singing Nun and Sister Act. This gives space for me in terms of musical content. I’m just really fascinated with how nuns are portrayed because we all have an idea of what a nun is so I’m going to explore that. I’ve watched a ton of nun-themed movies and a lot of my material comes from that combined with my own personal experience.

“I actually wanted to be a nun when I was younger. When I was around 12, I felt the calling and wanted to be a nun. I’m not strictly sure if I actually wanted to be a nun or just spend my life in the company of women…I don’t know, but I will explore that in the show as well.”

Sister Elizabeth will be premiering at the 2022 Adelaide Cabaret Festival. Performances are: Friday June 10 – 7.30pm, Saturday June 11 – 9.30pm and Sunday June 12 – 7.00pm in the Banquet Room, Adelaide Festival Centre. Tickets can be purchased at adelaidecabaretfestival.com.au or
https://www.adelaidecabaretfestival.com.au/events/libby-o-donovan-sister-elizabeth/ 

Interview by Ben Stefanoff

Photo Credit: Claudio Raschella

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