The best shows to see in Sydney this month

Arthur Miller’s Pulitzer-winning 1949 play has lost none of its potency in the last 75 years. Indeed, in our current terrible moment of economic anxiety, the heaviest weight on Willy Loman’s back – the need to make his mortgage payments even as he’s rendered obsolete – will be familiar to many audience members, although perhaps one step removed. Anthony LaPaglia is our Willy Loman, making his Sydney stage debut at the Theatre Royal in the role that earned him standing ovations.

The premiere of Jane Harrison’s Stolen marks the second production of this poignant play from Sydney Theatre Company in less than twenty years. The performance, directed by Ian Michael, stays true to Harrison’s work while evolving the play for a new generation. However this generation, albeit more cognisant of the truth of Stolen Generations, may be unaware of the extent of the hurt and trauma, which Michael effectively centres on here. 

You can count on Bell Shakespeare to bring the Bard’s best megalomaniacal leaders and tragic figures to life. This winter, for the first time in over a decade, the prestigious company is revisiting one of his most captivating despots: King Lear. Starring veteran actor of stage and screen Robert Menzies in the titular role and led by artistic director Peter Evans, this haunting classic will be performed in the round, in the intimate setting of The Neilson Nutshell at Bell Shakespeare’s home in the Walsh Bay Arts Precinct.

Spotlighting the archetypally ‘odd couple’ relationship between Shane Jacobson and Todd McKenney, Neil Simon’s classic comedy The Odd Couple is taking to the stage at the Theatre Royal Sydney this year – with the entertaining pair bringing to life the delightfully dysfunctional journey of the two main characters.

Sydney, get ready to be seduced all over again. The utterly salacious queen of punk-kabarett Bernie Dieter is making a triumphant return to our corner of the world with her legendary variety show. Bernie and her band of bombastic bohemians bring their edgy brand of opulence and otherworldliness to the Sydney Spiegeltent. You’ll be transported to the Berlin Underground with an intoxicating blend of theatrics, circus, aerials and kabarett.

More than ten years since its premiere, this spectacularly saucy cabaret show – from the talented people who brought us the brilliantly outrageous Blanc de Blanc – is back on the Sydney stage. Popping up at The Grand Electric, Limbo The Return features a seductive mix of cabaret, circus and acrobatics performed with a heart-pounding soundtrack and reality-altering lighting.