Max your summer in Sydney

In musical theatre circles, Cats is the show that everyone loves to hate, dismissing it as “weird” and “uncool”. So let me begin this review by stating that I love Cats. I listened to the cast recording over and over as a child, I met my best friend on a Cats mailing list (remember those?) when I was sixteen, and there's probably still some old Cats fanfiction floating around out there that I wrote in my teens. This much maligned show doesn't deserve the hate it gets.  When Cats was first performed in the early 1980s, it was hailed as groundbreaking, bridging the gap between concept musicals and mega musicals in a way no show had done before. It won both Olivier and Tony awards for best musical, and ran for decades on the West End and Broadway. These days, it’s viewed more as a “guilty pleasure” – the show you secretly enjoy but are supposed to pretend you don’t, lest you be seen as uncultured. But why? Concept musicals based around a theme rather than a traditional narrative have existed since the 1950s, with notable examples including Cabaret, Hair and Company. Dance-heavy musicals are also not a unique concept. Cats isn't even the only show to combine these two elements. But while shows like A Chorus Line and Pippin are hailed as iconic, Cats – which is essentially A Chorus Line with tails – is not shown the same love.  Cats may not be too heavy on the plot, but it’s a show for people who love the little details Much of the criticism surrounding Cats comes from wanting...

Sydney’s Darling Harbour is turning to ice. No, the great big body of water that surrounds our city hasn't hit sub-zero temperatures (although you’d be forgiven for thinking it has based on recent weather) but rather an ice skating rink has arrived in town. Have you always wanted to try a triple axel? Or maybe Home Alone 2 is your favourite cosy movie thanks to the Rockefeller Centre ice skating rink. Well, now is your chance to live out those dreams under our very own city skyline.  If you’re looking for a date night idea or something to occupy (read: tire out)  the kids then this is just the ticket for you. From Saturday, June 28 until Sunday, July 20, you can head on down to the harbourside precinct to strap on the skates and glide like a majestic penguin – or clamber around like Bambi on ice. Knee pads aren’t included, so it might be wise to wear a thick pair of pants to cushion any falls.  Once you’ve had your dash on the rink you may be ready to grab a bite to eat or rest your weary legs. Thankfully, Darling Harbour is within walking distance of plenty of Sydney’s very best restaurants and most delightful cheap eats.  If you love to romanticise winter, skating beneath the lights of Sydney’s CBD towers sounds like the perfect way to lean into the cooler months. The rink is open daily from 10am until 9pm at the Palm Grove Forecourt, and skating costs $28 per adult, $20 for children and $15 for toddlers. Skating penguins can be booked for an extra $10 to keep the little...

Winter is well and truly here, and if you needed a reason to leave the warmth of your home, we’ve got you. This June and July, South Eveleigh will be transformed into a winter wonderland with its brand new offering, Loco Markets. Inspired by the charm of European street markets, Loco will have a rotating lineup of themed nights, live entertainment, artisan stalls selling handmade goods, delicious food and drink, and family fun from June 19 until July 27. Yes, that’s every Thursday to Sunday for six glorious weeks.  What’s more, each week is a fresh experience with new themes to keep you coming back. The music has been curated by ARIA-nominated Stu Hunter to match each week’s theme, and there will be kid-friendly activities like face painting and creative workshops. Entry is free, though some workshops require bookings. Here’s what’s on each week: Artisan Design (June 19–22)Kick things off with bath bomb workshops, live cartoonists and jazz harp performances. Shop 3D-printed gifts from Mewse, playful cardboard costumes by Paper Pops, and stunning jewellery from Stof Studios. Produce & Wellness (June 26–29)Get your glow on with seasonal produce and health products. Don’t miss natural skincare by Stori of Africa, wholesome foods from Soka Pantry, and tea-based wine alternatives by Junco Drinks. Design & Sustainability (July 3–6)Celebrate slow fashion, botanical beauty and sing-along art workshops. Market picks include earthenware from Ignem Terrae Ceramics, sustainable style...

Australia’s most famous beach is welcoming back its big winter festival, this time with the biggest program to date. Running from Friday, July 4 until Sunday, July 20, Bondi Festival 2025 will bring 17 days of world-class music, theatre, comedy, visual arts and interactive performances to the beachside suburb – as well as a huge ice-skating rink and the beloved ‘Bondi Vista Ferris Wheel’. This year’s fest will also see a welcome focus on foodie offerings, with the festival’s ‘Blue Sky Markets’ making their debut at Bondi Park over three big Saturdays, hosting stallholders from across Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. Festivities will begin with the 2025 Waverley Art Prize winners’ announcement at Bondi Pavilion Art Gallery – a prize that’s now in its 39th year. After the announcement, festival goers can get their giggle on at the opening night Bondi Festival Comedy Gala, which will take over Bondi Pavilion Theatre for two laughter-filled nights. The first Saturday of the fest also sees the return of two fan favourites: the Pavilion Paw Parade, and Sydney’s beloved inclusive art class, Gladdy Drawing Club.  Other highlights from the first week include an incredible showcase of First Nations talent, an on-stage film-making spectacle by POV by re:group, the Sydney premiere of Alternative Facts’ unexpectedly intimate new theatrical experience Sincere Apologies and the Bondi Festival debut of the award-winning comedian and disability advocate, Madeleine Stewart. The second week of the...

Need a new profile pic? We’ve got you.  One of the world’s biggest immersive experiences has just landed in the Harbour City – serving up a fun, surreal backdrop for your Instagram grid glow-up . Bubble Planet: An Immersive Experience is open now at Paddington Pavilion, Sydney Olympic Park, offering Sydneysiders a transporting, ultra-Instagrammable experience. Already experienced by more than two million visitors around the world, with sell-out runs in Milan, Los Angeles, London and Brussels, Bubble Planet is a fantastical world of optical illusions, cutting-edge virtual reality experiences, giant bubbles, and next-level immersive projections. Visitors to the Sydney site can expect to embark on a dreamlike journey through more than 10 otherworldly rooms, home to giant bubble domes, LED underwater-style wonderlands, selfie hubs and VR dreamscapes.  Almost 10,000 tickets were sold ahead of the official opening, so we expect this one will be another sell-out run for the people who brought the incredible immersive Van Gogh experience to Sydney back in 2020. Session at this bizarre immersive world run for between 60-90 minutes, and the experience is suitable for people of all ages – with kids under four welcomed in for free. Keen? You can learn more and snap up tickets over here.    Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more news, things to do and travel inspo, straight to your inbox. RECOMMENDED: Want more activity inspo? Here’s what’s on in...

The Hunter Valley gets cold in winter. Real cold. Come mid-year, temperatures in one of New South Wales’ most popular wine country destinations drop to the single digits. What’s worse than feeling the bite in the air is when you’re not even compensated with piles of fluffy snow for your troubles.The Hunter Valley Gardens took matters into their own hands and for one month and one month only, have created a spectacle of a winter wonderland for the whole family. The botanical venue already takes the cake for the largest Christmas light display in the Southern Hemisphere so expect nothing short of magnificent for their ‘Christmas in July’, if you will. In terms of the kids (and kids-at-heart) burning off some steam, there will be a mega snow play zone for snowman building and snow angel making, a 45-metre ice slide toboggan, and an ice skating rink. When you’re ready to thaw out, you can step away from the chilly action and grab a bite to eat from the food stalls dishing up all the fan favourites, from woodfired pizzas and burgers, to souvlaki plates and dumplings. For dessert, load up on warm doughnuts, crepes and ice snow cones. Who said chilly treats are only for summertime?To keep the fun times rolling, the Hunter Valley Gardens will still be operating their permanent rides, like the teacups, carousel, superslide and ferris wheel that you can purchase additional ticket passes for.  Snow Time in the Garden begins on Saturday, June 28 and runs until Sunday, July 27....

This winter, the esteemed five-star hotel located in the former General Post Office, The Fullerton Hotel Sydney, is teaming up with Andrew Lloyd Webber’s beloved mega-musical Cats to present a whimsical, feline-inspired afternoon tea that’s straight out of your Broadway dreams. Timed to celebrate the show’s spectacular return to Sydney for its 40th anniversary, the Cats Inspired Afternoon Tea promises a claw-some culinary adventure into the magical world of the Jellicle cats. Indulge in an imaginative menu of treats inspired by the world-conquering production’s most memorable characters, including a Victoria sponge cake with jam and mascarpone mousse, a nod to Victoria the White Cat. There’s also a choux with Dulcey whipped ganache in honour of the dapper Bustopher Jones, and a lobster medallion worthy of the glamourous Bombalurina. To top it all off, sip on the limited-edition Jellicle Ball cocktail, a refreshing mix of melon and lychee margarita. The Cats Inspired Afternoon Tea is served daily at The Bar on No.1 Martin Place, inside The Fullerton Hotel Sydney, from June 1 through September 2025, with sittings available from 12pm to 4pm. Prices start at $90 per person, including tea or coffee, $102 with a flute of Chandon, or $112 with a flute of Veuve Clicquot. Book your afternoon tea here. 

You know you’re adulting when you find joy in browsing through homewares and furniture stores. Supa Centa Moore Park is like a massive playground for adults and it’s just been made even more of a great day out thanks to an immersive sculpture trail throughout the centre's public spaces.  This autumn, more than 25 contemporary sculptures crafted by renowned Australian artists will be arranged throughout the space in the Supa Sculpted Moments exhibition. The free, public collection includes work from artists Stephen Glassborow, Sonia Payes, Michael Vaynman, Margaret Sheridan, Mela Cooke and Hugh McLachlan, whose works have been displayed in some of Australia’s best galleries and prestigious exhibitions like Sculpture by the Sea.  There’s even an opportunity to get the scoop from the artists themselves, with a Meet the Makers series. For $10 (which includes a coupon for The Depot Cafe – so it’s basically free, right?) you can snag a limited spot for insight on the creative process (hello, home decor inspo).  Like what you see? Tell Supa Centa Moore Park which work is your favourite and you’ll go in the running to win a $2,500 art curation package including a discovery session, site inspection with an art curator and digital mock-up of suggested artworks for your home, bringing the spirit of Supa Sculpted Moments into your everyday living spaces. Supa Sculpted Moments is showing at the Supa Centa Moore Park from May 3 to July 20. It’s free to check out. You can find out more...

There are some stories that feel eternally relevant. Set in ancient Rome, and written more than 400 years ago, the brutal, volatile, ego-driven politics on display in Coriolanus seem to cut like a blade close to the throat of our own century and civilization. This is the second time in Bell Shakespeare’s history the company has mounted Shakespeare’s final tragedy, and director Peter Evans marshals an impressive, vigorous and robust undertaking of the play’s weighted themes. He’s helped by an excellent ensemble and a monumental lead in Hazem Shammas. We, the theatre-going people, are also involved in the play’s politics from the start. Down the subtly lit hall of the Neilson Nutshell, in a small yet meaningful simulation of the class divide, the audience is split down an arbitrary and unbreachable line. Those seated on one side of the theatre are dubbed ‘patricians’ (the contemptuous ruling classes, whom costume designer Ella Butler has in charcoal suits and creamy loose-fitting garments); the other side are the ‘plebeians’ (who are hungry, angry, and fomenting rebellion). It is between these two groups and the Senate that the arrogant warrior Coriolanus becomes embroiled when he returns bloodied and victorious from war with the Volsces, the state’s enemy neighbours, and is offered the honourable role of consul.  Volumnia – a fiercely exceptional Brigid Zengeni, in her Bell Shakespeare debut, who gloats of her son’s many stab wounds with a sick adoring pride – would love...

Mother-daughter relationships can be complicated even under the best of circumstances. When you add adoption, a language barrier, and years of estrangement into the mix – well, you get more baggage than a flight from Sydney to Seoul.  You may be familiar with Michelle Lim Davidson from both the stage (The Feather in the Web) and screen (The Newsreader, Utopia, Play School). In Koreaboo, her moving playwriting debut presented by Griffin Theatre Company in association with Belvoir St Theatre, Davidson draws on her own life to investigate the complexities of intercountry adoption, and the precarious experience shared by many adopted children – living caught between two very different cultures, but feeling like they belong to neither.  Davidson plays Hannah, a 30-something-year-old woman who was adopted from Korea as a baby and grew up in Newcastle. After a break-up, she travels to Korea to spend time with her biological mother, Umma (Heather Jeong). Hannah’s plan is to spend time getting to know the woman whose love she’s longed for since before she can remember. She offers to help Umma at the family’s convenience mart, and Umma reluctantly agrees. It’s not until they discover a shared love of K-pop and performing that Umma’s walls start falling down, and Hannah really gets to know her Sex-and-the-City-quoting, Turtle-Chip-eating Umma.  Jeong portrays the cheeky, sassy, larger-than-life Umma with apparent ease, and her command of movement, language and voice is a strong...