“Tamzen’s storytelling show is intimate and immersive, and will be perfectly at home with the walls of our hotel room at the Blue Hotel.” – Rachel Chant, Festival Director on Never Said Motel

Have you ever walk away from a situation with a lump of entangled words, stuck in your throat? Have you ever just wanted to invite 12 people from your past into a motel room to tell them what you really think? To release all those words that you never said?

Moving through a collection of memories, Never Said Motel invites you to hold space for real-life figures from Tamzen’s past as she talks her way through intimate conversations that have – until this point – only happened in her mind. Honest and cathartic, Never Said Motel is a love letter to the pain and heartbreak that shapes us and the human need for closure that we may never get. Part solo performance and part installation piece, Never Said Motel makes its Sydney premiere at the Blue Hotel in Bondi. Collect your key from reception, enter the hotel room, and be sure to leave your baggage behind.

Got your own never-said words? The Never Said Motel Confession Booth will be available for you to submit your own silences, forming future iterations of the show.

Never Said Motel first premiered at Melbourne Writers Festival in 2019, then went on tour around country Victoria with festival Ok Motels before landing an article in Frankie magazine and most recently in 2022 completed a successful run at Melbourne Fringe Festival. Tamzen and her collaborators are excited to embark on the next chapter of Never Said Motel which will see audience members stories, gathered from each past performance, turned into the text and form the basis of the stories for the new version which will be developed in the later half of 2023.

“Raw and vulnerable, a heady combination of performance, nostalgia, letting go and healing.” – Frankie Magazine

“Although she is not speaking to the people who inspired each monologue directly, her emotionally rich performance feels no less authentic.” – Theatre Haus

“A triumph of storytelling.” – Melbourne Writers Festival

“resounding poignancy and an unflinching relatability” – Theatre Haus

Times:

Fri 30 June + Sat 1 July 7pm, 8:30pm
Sun 2 July 5pm, 7pm

Accessibility Info:

• This event will be Auslan interpreted on Saturday 1 July at 7pm.
• Unfortunately the Blue Hotel Bondi is not wheelchair accessible due to steps up to the lift.
• Seats are reserved for Auslan users to ensure a good view of the interpreters. Customers requiring this service should phone or email after purchasing tickets to reserve seats.
• Bondi Festival accepts Companion Cards. Companion Card holders are required to phone or email their valid Companion Card number and expiry date.
• Click here for more information about accessibility at Bondi Festival.

Presented by:

Performer/Writer: Tamzen Hayes
Venue Partner: The Blue Hotel
Director: Rachel Baring
Sound Design: Danni A. Esposito

Meet the Creator:

Tamzen Hayes is a trained actress and untrained writer working around Naarm. She has performed for numerous festivals including Dark Mofo, Ok Motels and Melbourne Writers Festival, with television credits including The Doctor Blake Mysteries and Winners and Losers. When she isn’t performing she is working in the world of reality TV, googling UFO sightings or brushing knots out of her cats fluff.