Theatre & Dance
Latest Sydney theatre and dance reviews
Theatre, dance, musicals and opera on now in Sydney
A guide to Sydney's theatre scene
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Sydney Opera House
This Australian icon sits on Bennelong Point and is Sydney’s premiere venue for classical and contemporary music, opera, theatre and dance. As peaceful as it looks now, the House had a controversial beginning: while it was designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon, by the time the building was completed in 1973 its architect had been fired. Many have pondered the building’s design over the years, comparing it variously to shells, waves and even a family of swans. Utzon never revealed his vision, only that it involved spheres. The Opera House offers different tours that allow you to get intimate with the building, including some hosted in different languages and full ‘experience' packages. If you don't feel like shelling out, it's still free to sit on the steps for a quick lunch and walk by the water and gaze in marvel at those 1,056,000 pearly, self-cleaning Swedish tiles. Where to eat and drink near Sydney Opera House For the ultimate Opera House dining experience, book a pre-theatre dinner at Bennelong, or just pop in for a drink and a snack at the raw and cultured bar. Check out the Opera Kitchen, a harbourfront dining area that features a host of Sydney food identities including John Susman. Meander around to Bulletin Place for cocktails. Later in the evening kick the glamour up a notch at Hemmesphere and enjoy matched cigars and more cocktails into the morning. Backstage tour With access into areas normally reserved for stars and their minders, this tour will have y
Sydney Theatre Company
It’s Andrew’s final season, so one might expect him to throw caution to the winds and get some wish-list i tems out of the way. Overall it’s a rather demure season as far as Big Names, with the exception of Rose Byrne, who will be fronting Andrew’s production of David Mamet’sSpeed-the-Plow. But there’s plenty of top shelf local thesp talent – like Robyn Nevin, Sarah Peirse and Helen Thomson; and there are actors made popular on screen returning to the STC stage – including Lisa McCune, Ryan Corr, John Howard and Lachy Hulme. But there's no William Hurt, Phillip Seymour Hoffman or Steven Soderbergh. And we’ll miss Hugo, Rox and Cate. The big international star of the season is British director Rupert Goold (Enron, Macbeth), now artistic director of London’s Almeida Theatre. He’ll be bringing his hit West End production of Mike Bartlett’s King Charles III to Sydney. Also heading down under from the UK are 1927, with their take on the Golem myth. For an Australian classic, we get Louis Nowra’s Golden Age; for new work, there are premieres by Sue Smith (Kryptonite), Angela Betzien (The Dark Room), and a portmanteau of new works by emerging playwrights Melissa Bubnic, Michele Lee, Nakkiah Lui and Debra Thomas – with a fifth from veteran Hannie Rayson. The Secret River, arguably Cate and Andrew’s greatest programming achievement in their tenure, returns. For new international work: besides King Charles III from the UK, Upton is bringing Pulitzer Prize winner Disgraced, from the
Belvoir St Theatre
This once shabby tomato sauce factory is now the entirely respectable Belvoir St Theatre, home of company Belvoir, which stages productions in its intimate 350-seat Upstairs Theatre and its more intimate 80-seat Downstairs Theatre.
Riverside Theatres
Each year this western Sydney cultural hub hosts an exciting programme of theatre, dance, opera, circus, musicals and solo shows. The theatre is also a NT Live screening venue, so throughout the year you can catch London's National Theatre productions screened live in HD. Visit the Riverside Theatres website for the full 2014 program.
Carriageworks
Worth visiting for the space alone, Carriageworks is the latest incarnation of the Eveleigh Rail Yards. Built in the 1880s, its cavernous interiors are faithfully preserved, giving it a limitlessness very different from the plush cocoons of most theatres. With a program of large-scale theatre, dance and installation works, and as a host of the experimental and cross-disciplinary theatre company Performance Space, Sydney Chamber Opera and Moogahlin Performing Arts, Carriageworks is gaining a reputation as the venue for the most progressive Sydney drama, dance and art.
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Win a two-night trip to Canberra for the huge design festival
The capital’s annual festival of design kicks off in November with headline guests Kengo Kuma from Japan and Australia’s design hero Enrico Taglietti. Now in its fifth year, Design Canberra is hosting exhibitions, talks, tours and markets across the city from November 5-25, including a chance to stickybeak inside artist studios and architectural homes. And we’re giving away a weekend for two to the capital for one lucky Time Out reader! The winner will get two nights at the award-winning interior design hotel Vibe Hotel (only ten minutes from the heart of Canberra), which is renowned for its soaring seven-storey atrium and striking circular geometry. Fittingly on theme. You’ll be well fed too by some of Canberra’s best chefs in design-loving establishments. Enjoy fine food and wine at Bar Rochford (winner of Gourmet Traveller’s 2018 Bar of the Year); and local ingredients and handcrafted tableware at the retro-chic Mocan and Green Grout. You’ll be treated to lunch at independently owned urban brewery Capital Brewery Co, and at the picturesque Lake George Winery. If that wasn’t enticing enough, we’re throwing in a set of wheels. You will be loaned the all-new BMW X4 – with next-gen tech and bold design – for your weekend adventure. And, of course, you’ll enjoy a specially curated itinerary at Design Canberra. To enter the competition, tell us what makes a great city of design in 25 words or less. ENTER HERE
Discover this Darlinghurst hidden gem
Darlinghurst Theatre Company was born during the colourful ebbs and flows of Sydney’s changing culture. The history of Darlinghurst the suburb is rife with debauchorous tales, peppered with explosions of creativity and known as a notorious bohemian stomping ground, and Darlinghurst Theatre, in its many venues, has been championing just that for 25 years. Nowadays you'll find them serving Sydney fresh theatre, dance, cabaret, comedy and more in the historical Eternity Playhouse. It all began in 1992 when artistic director Glenn Terry began cooking up plans for a local theatre company in Darlinghurst, founding a school for aspiring actors that would become affectionately known as Darlo Drama. Terry engaged hot shot actors and leading professional performers to teach and the accessible drama school soon attracted over 100 students a week. It was, in fact, popular enough to raise money the next year to kit out the Wayside Chapel in Kings Cross into a proper theatre. Since then the theatre company hopped over to the Reginald Murphy Hall in Potts Point for ten years, establishing itself as an exciting theatre destination, and later relaunched in the repurposed Burton Street Tabernacle building that was rejigged as the Eternity Playhouse to honour Sydney character Arthur Stace (the creator of the famous 'Eternity' chalk tag) where it remains today. Through its 25 years of enriching the neighbourhood and Sydney's creative community, Darlinghurst Theatre Company has had an artists-
Liveworks
Liveworks festival is the main event in Performance Space's annual program, showcasing local, interstate and international artists pushing the frontiers of art and performance. This year's over-arching theme of 'bodies at the edge' will be explored through works like Circles of Fire: The Amphitheatre, an audio-visual and virtual reality installation by John A Douglas, which was inspired by the artist's own life-saving kidney transplant; Uncanny Valley Girl by Angela Goh, which uses live performance to explore a dystopian hybrid of women and machine; and High Performance Packing Tape, which sees Australian company Branch Nebula use stationery and disposable hardware items to place performers in mind-bending and physically compromising positions. Returning this year as well is Day For Night, which fuses a throbbing party together with Australia’s top queer performers. This year will also feature two of the festival's most ambitious collaborations to date with major works, co-commissioned with the Esplanade in Singapore and the National Arts Centre Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Liveworks festival will run from 18 to 28 of October, with a combination of both free and ticketed events, showcasing artists from Australia and the Asia Pacific.
Enjoy Diner en Blanc inspired cocktails and culinary experiences
A taste of Diner en Blanc is coming to Marriott International hotels right across Sydney, giving locals and visitors a taste of the exclusive French event, through special menus and custom cocktails. Diner En Blanc is a dining experience celebrated all across the world, known for its all-white theme and French influence, and is continuing its partnership with Marriott International Hotels for a second year. If you head into any of Marriott International’s Sydney properties – including the Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel Circular Quay, Westin Sydney, and Sheraton on the Park – you'll be able to order up Diner en Blanc inspired cocktails and dishes. Chefs and bartenders from each of the hotels have designed menus that take inspiration from the exclusive dinner, incorporating French flavours, white elements and immersive experiences. Try decadent white chocolate desserts or settle in for a full four-course en Blanc menu. If you’re after a sophisticated cocktail head into any of the Marriott International’s hotel bars for a custom Diner en Blanc cocktail. Sheraton on the Park’s elegant Conservatory Bar will be shaking up the gin botanical infused Lillet; Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel's Three Bottle Man Bar will be concocting the Blizzard Condition; the new Four Points by Sheraton's Malt Bar at Central Park will be whipping up the Coco Blanc; and Pier One's harbourside bar will be serving the zesty Lemon Drop at its own waterfront bar, the Kerrigan. The Diner en Blanc collection
