Dominic Field may not be responding to fans online, but he is reading your comments.
“It’s so funny,” he says. “People have started coming to the shows dressed as the tree too. We’ve been joking that it looks like I’m dressing up as them, because they have a better costume.”
The Tree of Wisdom’s costume is often compared to Old Gregg from The Mighty Boosh.Credit: Edwina Pickles
It’s true that much of the Tree’s appeal is in how downright daggy it is. The costume – and in fact the entire character – was slapped together at the last minute because the Wiggles wanted a tree (“a rare tree and a rattlin’ tree”) to accompany the Irish drinking song Rattlin’ Bog. Field’s costume is a button-up shirt with leaves pinned to it, a feather wig, a painted leaf moustache and khaki pants.
“It does look like I’m this random guy who just brought his own costume and started dancing,” he says, laughing.
This is a recurring idea online: “I just know he did this once as a joke off-camera and someone went ‘yaaass’ and it’s now canon”; “They told him ‘stay there’ and he heard ‘slay there.’”
In fact, Field – the nephew of Blue Wiggle Anthony Field, and son of former manager Paul Field – has been in the Wiggles his whole life. He first appeared at age two in the 1996 video for Wake Up Jeff, he later started with the group as crew, and he’s been a full-time performer for the past seven years.
Though Field has previously filled in for Wags the Dog and Captain Feathersword, this is the first time he’s been able to make a character his own.
The direction from Anthony, he recalls, was “just have fun with it … I really took that note on”.
“I really try to go as hard as I can. It’s my one shot. This is my song, so I give it everything I can.”
Though Field does have some training – a year of jazz and Irish dancing – he says he was mainly “a bit of a footy player” in his younger years. The moves are all his own, drawn from Sydney nightclubs and weddings over the years.
“I think it’s connecting with people because of that ‘dance like no one’s watching’ thing. It doesn’t look too well oiled or rehearsed. It’s just a guy having fun on stage and going nuts.”
Dominic Field as the Tree of WisdomCredit: The Age
The performer, who admits he doesn’t even drink coffee, puts so much energy into his work for the audience (“we take our jobs very seriously; I’m not half-hearting it”) and also for his wife, Stephanie Di Coio, who plays Dorothy the Dinosaur.
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“I tried to make her laugh every time I did it,” he says. “I think I’ve accomplished that.”
He also changes up the moves during shows, which explains Lachy Wiggle’s happily confused facial expressions in many of the recordings. “It’s a test to make them laugh, and also keep the wig on.”
Kids also have so much fun trying to do the moves back to him but, he says, “I think you need fully matured necks to do some of it”.
So, will the Tree of Wisdom stick around like other iconic characters? Will Field be rattlin’ in the hole in the bog down in the valley-o in 30 years?
“Hopefully!” he says. “Maybe I’ll have to start drinking coffee.”
The Tree of Wisdom will perform at The Wiggles, Wiggle and Learn BIG SHOW currently touring Australia.
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