Q&A: Olivia Ansell, Sydney Festival director, 43

January’s Sydney Festival will capture the spirit of the city, says director Olivia Ansell. So what does she have planned?

Let the good times roll: Olivia Ansell. Picture: Nick Cubbin

As a schoolgirl in Sydney, you couldn’t stop dancing. How obsessed were you? I would put my uniform on and catch the train but I wouldn’t get off near school; I’d continue all the way to Redfern station and take dance classes at Bodenwieser Dance Centre. I was just so desperate to get across all the dance styles. Eventually my parents said, “OK, you can leave school and study dance and drama, but you have to get your HSC.” I did it by distance education. I was in a musical at the State Theatre and sat for an HSC exam in the basement.

How did you become a theatre producer? I loved watching how productions came together, all the moving parts. With no formal skills, I started to be approached to produce other people’s shows. One I’m really proud of was Hidden Sydney, an immersive show about the sordid underbelly of Kings Cross. We staged it in an old terrace house that used to be a brothel. I just have a real passion for Sydney and its history.

How does your program for January’s Sydney Festival capture the spirit of the city? We’re asking Sydneysiders to find your Sydney side – your glam side, your dark side, your curious side. It’s really tapping into everyone’s feeling about the city. We’ve weathered the lockdown, but I’m convinced that the soul of the Sydneysider is still there, eclectic and fun-loving. We’re encouraging people to dust themselves off, get dressed up, and enjoy their city in summer.

You’ve revived Sydney’s famous Speaker’s Corner... It’s a throwback to the freewheeling days of Speaker’s Corner in the Domain. Ours is a very contemporary take, a nightly music program spanning indie rock to pop, jazz, folk... It’s an outdoor concert venue for up to 1100 people, above Cook + Phillip Park Pool next to Hyde Park. The site has been designed by Elliott Routledge, a fabulous Sydney street artist.

Why have you mainly focused on local artists? Many haven’t worked for six months because of the lockdown, so we’re helping the sector get back on its feet. We do have some international collaborations as well. But uniting and recovering our local sector needs to take priority.

Meanwhile, you’ve also had a baby? Yes, in my spare time. The biggest baby, of course, is the festival program for 2022. And then I have my gorgeous newborn son, Jordi.

Did you come from a creative family? My parents, Tony and Joanne, met when they were working on TV’s Bandstand. My mother is a dancer and choreographer, and my father was a musician who was in an orchestra at the time. And my grandparents worked in the Tivoli Theatre; my grandfather was a puppeteer, circus master and juggler, and my grandmother was an opera singer.

What was the vibe at home in Gymea Bay, south Sydney? There was a recording studio and a dance studio, so it was sort of happening at all hours. Some musicians make their best work in the early hours, so there’d be sessions happening till three in the morning. I remember falling asleep while the musicians were working downstairs. Kerrie Biddell and Don Burrows would come and work with my dad. I remember seeing Tiny Tim. And there were four young guys doing barbershop quartet material – they became Human Nature.

When you can travel again, what’s top of the list? I love Italy; they have a great dance festival, Romaeuropa, every year in Rome. And I’m just gunning to get back to the Lyon Dance Biennale, and the Edinburgh Festival.

Sydney Festival, January 6-30: sydneyfestival.org.au