Things to do in Sydney today

Scrap the seat and get moving at this interactive theatre show that engages all your senses, including taste, with cocktail (and mocktail) tastings embedded into the show. Imagine a theatre production, your favourite dimly lit bar and a haunted house (just way less scary, and heaps more playful) all rolled into one.  Setting up camp at the Union Bond Store in The Rocks this August and September, When Night Comes is part of Sydney Fringe Festival’s ‘Sideshow at The Rocks’ hub. You’ll follow performers between multiple rooms, each with a setting more hedonistic and sensory than the last. Your ticket includes a number of cocktails tastings, plus some gold-star entertainment, of course. Not a big alcohol drinker? You can still get involved by selecting the mocktail option when you check out.  Catch When Night Comes at Union Bond Store from August 22. Find out more here and book your tickets here. 

Pull up a stool and let the good times swing at Noble Craft’s Thursday Night Jazz series. On Thursday, August 28, the spotlight’s on the Colbright Trio – with Colin Bright on piano, Justin Dileo on bass and Jim Piesse on drums. Bright, who is best known in classical circles as a composer, has always kept a deep love of improvisation close at hand. This new trio first came together for a Beatles-jazz experiment at Noble Craft earlier this year – and it was such a hit that they’re back with a fuller repertoire of jazz favourites and standards. Catch them live in this Brookvale distillery space from 8-10pm. The Noble Craft is at 39 Sydenham Rd in Brookvale. Find out more over here.

Since its launch at Casula Powerhouse in 2017, Soft Centre has cemented its reputation as one of Australia’s most avant garde events, consistently delivering an epicly obscure program featuring commissions from the likes of MONA, the Sydney Opera House, and CTM Berlin. Last year, the event received a Green Room Award from Australia’s peer-to-peer arts industry body and was twice named FBi Radio’s Best Music Event. And it’s not just good by Aussie standards – in 2023, Soft Centre earned a place on Resident Advisor’s list of the Top Ten Festivals worldwide. All that’s to say: this is an event worth locking into your diary – and this year’s edition is set to be its biggest yet. Running from Thursday, August 28 to Sunday, August 31, this year’s festival will take over some of the city’s most iconic and beloved buildings – with the main event unfolding inside the historic, heritage-listed White Bay Power Station. The four-day program includes a series of interactive workshops and insightful talks; a night of experimental cinema and audiovisual performance (Para.Cine); a closing concert featuring Aarti Jadu, beloved NTS resident Malibu, and more; plus the flagship multi-stage event, which will transform White Bay Power Station with radical performance art, bold site-specific installations, mesmerising light shows, and a soundtrack the organisers describe as “adventurous club sounds,” on Saturday, August 30. Highlights from the line-up on the big day incldue Pink Siifu, Queen...

I last watched the film adaptation of The Talented Mr Ripley in the summer of 2023 – the summer that Saltburn hit our screens and mesmerised us all with its intoxicating, messed-up depiction of a complex, envy-ridden friendship. Saltburn director Emerald Fennell came under a lot of flak for what many people viewed as a barefaced rip-off of Patricia Highsmith’s beloved 1950s novel. And though the people wielding that claim have a point (Saltburn seems to borrow a lot from Ripley: the dynamic between the protagonists, the complexity and nuance of a minor class divide, even the sexy bathtub scene), the more I watch both, the more I’m reminded that this is a story as old as time. In both Saltburn and The Talented Mr Ripley, we see a starry-eyed boy driven to the furthest extremes by a toxic curdle of admiration, lust, and hatred. It’s a story that’s played out in literature forever, with characters in Greek mythology, Roman comedy, and Shakespearean tragedy all following similar journeys of envy, deceit, and attempts at stolen identity. In Sydney Theatre Company’s new production of The Talented Mr Ripley, the story is executed with masterful comic brilliance and a chilling, sociopathic undertone. As an audience, you’re carried on an all-consuming journey by characters you learn to hate but root for all the same.  What’s the premise of The Talented Mr Ripley? The play follows the slightly awkward, desperately socially unsatisfied Tom Ripley (whose status anxiety is perfectly...

Most people know a Suntory beverage. Maybe it’s the mega popular Minus 196 cans, the ultimate to-go Boss Coffee, the refined Roku Gin or premium Japanese whiskies. What we guarantee you *don’t* know is just how many popular labels it owns: think everything from Jim Beam and Maker’s Mark to Canadian Club. And now, you can experience more than 125 years of Suntory’s history and innovation all in one place – for the next three months. Say hello to Sydney’s new Suntory Bar. The Japanese spirit company has chosen the city’s only Japanese culture and dining precinct, Prefecture 48 on Sussex Street, as host for the residency. The moody Whisky Thief bar with gorgeous historic artwork and marbletop counters is the place to be when you clock off. Choose between timeless highballs, signature serves, special cocktails, RTDs, The Premium Malt beer and whisky flights crafted by the team at Prefecture 48 in collaboration with Suntory.  The must-try tipple of the affair is the Highball. While it’ll be dished up with a range of Suntory whiskies (it’s what Suntory’s known for in Japan), we say try the spotlight cocktail, the Hakushu Highball, first. Not only is it a refreshing mix of Hakushu Distiller’s Reserve, soda and mint, but it’s been paired with an exclusive snack from the genius Michelin Star chef Tetsuya Wakuda (you know, from *the* Tetsuya’s). Now’s the chance to sample Wakuda’s cuisine since his eminent Sydney restaurant closed last year – that’s a golden opportunity if we ever...