EMMA LOUISE PURSEY
Actor · Writer · Producer · Educator
★★★★ The Age
★★★★ Theatre Matters
Photo: Adam J Marsh
'Formidable' RealTime · 'Exceptional' The Australian · 'Deliciously Terrifying' Australian Stage · 'Firebrand' The Age
'Triumphant talent' Theatre Matters · 'Ecstatic' Stage Whispers · 'Fervent' The Blurb · 'Tour de force' Grey Smith Journal
ABOUT ME
A little known fact about me is that the first job I had out of school was a roadie. My first gig was The Rolling Stones.
After managing a punk band, I moved from backstage to on-stage as an electronic music DJ. Not only did I DJ in Beijing for the Millennium, I was one of the first women to do so. After being a gallery assistant at the IMA, it was a 1997 production of Salomé by avant-garde Brisbane-based repertory ensemble, Frank Theatre that changed my life.
Never had I been so in awe of a performance, nor seen actors more compelling, energised or powerful. How? The Suzuki Method of Actor Training. I started stomping immediately and became one of their core ensemble for ten years touring to numerous international festivals.
At fifteen I walked the Kokoda track with my own pack 18 months after major spinal surgery. In 2014, I donated a kidney to my brother and have since become a passionate advocate for Donate Life Victoria. As an artist living with invisible disability, I actively engage in the ongoing practice of disability pride and have been a proud Equity member since 2008. I may look like an English rose, but I have a warrior heart!
Photo: Sarah Walker
WHERE IS JOY?
★★★★ The Age
“A must-see”
"This one woman show from Emma Louise Pursey is a defiant act of assertion against female erasure... a resurrection of an artist and poet of unnerving intensity."
"You can no more look away from Pursey's Hester than you can from the artist's fluid black line drawings."
"Emma Louise Pursey's firebrand delivery emphasises the relentlessness with which Joy Hester seized life."
The Blurb
“Pursey’s performance is fervent.”
“Pursey gives it her all. She is emotional in capturing the essence of Hester, who refused to be tamed.”
"Pursey captured a relentless intensity of thought and feeling."
Grey Smith Journal
"Remarkable...Utterly unforgettable"
“Where Is Joy? isn’t just a play. It’s an event.
I left the theatre thinking I’d just witnessed something culturally important."
"Joy was right there in front of us."
★★★★ Theatre Matters
"Pursey's own triumphant talent"
“Emma Louise Pursey, an absolute Goddess on stage, has become the late, great artist, Joy Hester.”
“This fiercely intelligent play portrays the late, great artist Joy Hester as the true Icon she was, blazing in rebellious glory, stunningly acted by Emma Louise Pursey.”
"The final dramatic ending is one of the best I've seen this year"
Stage Whispers
“Pursey’s high-energy, relentless performance burns like the fire that Joy Hester was.”
“If the initiates are not drawn in by Pursey’s vitality, by the breakneck but poetic narrative and the utter originality of the art, then nothing will convince them”
Christabel Blackman
“We were witnessing Art — a happening, a true event.”
“Joy was wonderfully portrayed but the essence of the show was Pursey — her own brilliance and transformation of Joy into a vibrant play, the script, the performance, stage sense, body use, the dance, the poetry and all those so many emotions.”
“A true tour de force.”
"You called your play Where Is Joy?...You have found her" Janine Burke
Joy Hester Reimagined: a visual poem of love, loss and belonging
A new Australian solo work by Emma Louise Pursey
Directed by Susie Dee
Presented by Emma Louise Pursey in association with Cicero's Circle and fortyfivedownstairs.
Endorsed by the Heide MoMA, Canberra Museum + Gallery, Janine Burke, Mirka Mora and Barbara Blackman AO. Supported by the City of Melbourne Arts Grants, Robert Salzer Foundation and through the Australian Cultural Fund.
WHERE IS JOY? sold out before opening - 30 Oct-9 Nov 2025 at fortyfivedownstairs
Photo: Amber Schmidt
CONTACT ME
NAARM / MELBOURNE info @ emmalouisepursey.com
Photo: Amber Schmidt