“Life is about authenticity

Recognising and honouring one’s own particular song

Getting in touch with that song

and singing it as well as one can”

Maria Schneider

I am a little hooked on one person shows in which people share stories from their life. I love the performer’s determination to sing their particular song as well as they can. This is exactly what Candice D’Arcy does with her evocative show, FOREIGN BODY. 

The show reveals a proud, intelligent forties something woman who has been through a lot in her life.

Candice grew up  in the 80’s in Capetown, in Apartheid South Africa. She didn’t  like the oppressive regime and it was only when President Nelson Mandela came to power that things changed. After this, she went to University which blew her mind and gave her a freedom she hadn’t known before.

At University she  fell in love with an Indian student and at just 21 she fell pregnant, much to the chagrin of some of her friends. She choose to have a baby, a baby girl and whilst she was at home tending the baby, her friends were out partying or travelling,

This early hardship has set the tone for her life which has been challenging and rewarding.  One of her biggest challenges has been raising a coloured daughter and still seeing today the racism and negative attitudes that she has to contend with.

Candice sang her song with grace, with plenty of humour, and with songs that she composed herself which  showcasing a lovely voice.

Candice used a few props. She used a stick and flag, and depicted how she used to be a drum majorette which is a big thing in South Africa.  On a few different occasions she blew a Zulu instrument, a vuvuzela, which is frequently used in football matches in South  Africa.

Candice ended up saying that she is now a bit of a foreign body neither feeling particularly  at home in South Africa, which she has gone back to visit, or In Australia.

She did, however, say some very positive things about Australia. For instance, she said that it was nice to live in a country where one didn’t have to risk going through red lights because you weren’t worried about being mugged if you were stopped at the lights.

Also she said how she loved that in Australia, at the start of major events, there is a Welcome to Country, whereby respects were paid to First Nations People. She couldn’t envisage this happening in South Africa.

Entertaining and enlightening, Candice D’Arcy’s FOREIGN BODY, well directed by Trudi Boatwright, played a short season at the Office Room in Erskineville Town Hall between the 30th August and 3rd September 2022.

Candice D’Arcy and Trudi Boatwright came up to Sydney  to expressly perform in the Sydney Fringe Festival and are journeying back to Melbourne tomorrow.