Sunday Sommerfeld

// UPDATE: A massive thank you to everyone who donated to our Pozible campaign, we reached our target!!!

Any extra money will go toward costumes for the actors and our consumable props (hint hint: strawberries) //

"It is difficult for a woman to define her feelings in a language which is chiefly made by men." Thomas Hardy



// Why are we interested in Tess of the d'Urbervilles? Why are we interested in any classic novel? Why do we read and reread these novels when so often we could not disagree more with the ideals of the world they exist in?

Tess of the d'Urbervilles is a classic. The BBC turned it into a dreamy, romantic love story mini-series and Polanski made it "for Sharon". Male authors continually manipulating, punishing and presenting this young woman. Now, its our turn. 

Here is a quick version of Tess' story: Tess is born a female. Tess gets her period. Tess kills her family horse. Tess gets raped. Tess has a baby. Tess' baby dies. Tess falls in love. Tess gets married. Tess's husband leaves her because she is impure. Tess works. Tess' becomes a mistress to save herself. Tess murders her rapist. Tess goes to Stonehenge. Tess gets captured. Tess gets killed for her crimes. Tess is doomed from the moment she is born. Tess' demise is inevitable.



TESS examines the systematic destruction of women, the fine line between survival and death. TESS highlights the deaths of various women – celebrity to unknown, fictional to real – whilst asking why we feel a need to punish women in our stories and our world. We question whether Tess has any power to change her fate at all. 

Thomas Hardy writes his novel in seven phases; The Maiden, Maiden No More, The Rally, The Consequence, The Woman Pays, The Convert and Fulfilment. Tess lives in and between the worlds of her father, her rapist, her son, her husband and her master. Her survival depends on these men. We hate it. 

Tess' life shouldn't be divided like this. There are more than seven parts to her story. 

Dancing, murder, horses, strawberries, icons, diamonds, authors, wealth, blood and pregnant bellies. Tears, chickens, martyrs, guns, milk and heavy periods. Demons, defiance, victory mountain, saints, babies, birthdays, barbies. Power and rejected husbands.

We plan to use our Pozible donations for the following;

AUSLAN interpreter (1 performance) - $150
Set Design - $350
Lighting Gel - $20
Qlab hire - $70
Pozible fees - $60

We need your help to make all of this happen.

The TESS team is made up of eight people, with all of our work being in kind. As passionate emerging artists, we are happy for this to be the case. We are striving to make the best work we possibly can, and some of these things require cash.

As TESS is an image based work, our funding will primarily be devoted to realising our design. Our sound designer needs Qlab, our lights need gels and our actors need costumes. We are commissioning an artist to create an exciting part of our set. It is also important to us that our show be accessible, our venue has wheelchair access but we hope to further access by including an AUSLAN interpreted performance in our season.

Any help at all would be appreciated and we hope to see you at the show!

Love Steph and Tish //