There has been a lot of discourse lately about the demise of critical thinking. With the dominance of AI, the proliferation of misinformation online – which is then fed to us by AI and a carefully constructed web of destructive algorithms – it can be difficult to know where to turn. Curious at the Sydney…
Acclaimed UK theatre company Forced Entertainment brings Table Top Shakespeare to the Sydney Opera House. The premise of the performances involves a narrator who retells one of Shakespeare’s plays using various items found around the home. Think of it as CliffsNotes with condiments. The Studio space at the Sydney Opera House contains a rectangular table…
Triptych at the Sydney Opera House is a celebration of movement and light, told through three short works: Prologue, Unfolding and Epilogue. Artistic Director and choreographer Lewis Major comments that the three pieces are “built from the simple wish to keep making.” But there is nothing simple about Triptych. Prologue sets the tone of the…
This month the State Library of NSW celebrates its 200th anniversary with a six-week program of talks, performances and live music, including new commissions from some of Australia’s most prolific creatives. On Friday night, the Mitchell Library Reading Room, known for its vast ceilings and the multi-storey bookshelves lining its walls, became the site of…
“In order for a dance to exist it requires an audience to witness it.” – Amrita Hepi Bringing together movement and storytelling, internationally renowned Bundjalung and Ngāpuhi artist Amrita Hepi presents Rinse at the Sydney Opera House. A collaboration with acclaimed theatre maker Mish Grigor, this solo work combines dance with theatre to create a…
We currently live in a world that has lost its sense of nuance. Discussions, particularly those conducted online, quickly devolve into chaos where being right, while proving others wrong, is the entire goal. The world has suddenly become very black and white, with people uncomfortable to exist in the grey. Curious minds have become few…
Have you ever been swept up in an argument, so positive in your convictions, so certain of your truth, and then suddenly, you’re not so sure? A seed of doubt is planted, but you’ve passed the point of no return. To back down now would be to admit you’re wrong, so you stand firm, your…
Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney is designed to challenge and subvert the way we think. Across 10 days and multiple venues, FODI is packed with talks, films and behind-the-scenes excursions that are driven by ideas and a sense of open dialogue. The Festival is meticulously curated, uninterested in outrage for its own sake, and…
As you enter the Studio space at the Sydney Opera House your senses immediately switch on. There is a smokiness to the room that makes everything slightly soft around the edges and amidst the hum of people finding their seats, the sound of crickets and nocturnal wildlife can be heard. The scene is set for…
Produced and created by Indian Ink Theatre Company, Balloon Dog at the Sydney Opera House is a contemporary adaptation of Kabuliwala, the 1892 Bengali short story by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. It is the story of a five-year-old girl called Mini who befriends a local service station worker called Kabir (Jehangir Homavazir). They form an…
Meet Bev, or Chiko, who, in his own words, is “not the best truckie, just the best looking.” He’s every stereotype of Australian masculinity you could conjure up, from his impressive mullet to his truck-themed stubbies (translation: shorts). Written and performed by Jonny Hawkins, Truck Driver at the Sydney Opera House, is an insight into…
Choreographed, written and performed by Martin del Amo, Scary Piece of Work at the Sydney Opera House is perhaps the most bizarre show I have ever seen. Pitched as a work that explores fear, its universality and our individual responses to it, this one-person production was a cocaine-fuelled fever dream that left audiences wondering what…
Sheltering at the Sydney Opera House is a triple-bill from the acclaimed Bangarra Dance Theatre. Bangarra’s unique style of dance fuses traditional First Nations movement and narratives with contemporary dance to tell stories that resonate and challenge the audience. Sheltering acknowledges and honours the theatre’s history through the work Sheoak, while looking forward to the…
In NSW, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children make up over 56% of those in youth detention, but only around 4% of the youth population. Presented by the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP), Saplings at the Sydney Opera House sheds light on the youth justice system. Written by Yuwaalaray playwright Hannah Belanszky and directed…
The Other Side of Me at the Sydney Opera House is a heartbreaking story of loss and identity. Based on actual events, the dance duet tells the story of a young Aboriginal man in the Northern Territory who is adopted, along with his brother, by a white English couple in the 1960s. The adoption process…
It’s been 115 years since the first International Women’s Day in 1911. A day that celebrates women’s achievements and raises awareness about discrimination. 115 years of fighting for equality, for fundamental human rights, for basic respect. I wonder what our foremothers would say if they had a glimpse of our world today. A world where…
There would be very few people who, at some stage in their lives, hasn’t been labelled as “dramatic”. Let me rephrase. There would be very few WOMEN who, at some stage in their lives, hasn’t been ACCUSED of being “dramatic”. Perhaps this is why comedian Nikki Britton’s new stand-up Not To Be Dramatic at Adelaide…
Three friends, one artwork, three very different perspectives. ART The Play, written by French Playwright Yasmina Reza and directed by Lee Lewis, is the story of three friends – Marc (Richard Roxburgh), Serge (Damon Herriman) and Yvan (Toby Schmitz) – whose 20+ year friendship is thrown into turmoil when Serge decides to spend 160,000 euro…
Irrespective of how old you are, the memories of adolescence are never far behind. The awkwardness and insecurity of growing into yourself – both physically and mentally – and the overwhelming sense that your parents will simply never understand. And if they try, well that’s just so embarrassing. Perhaps that is what makes the character…
Inspired by the films of the same name, Now You See Me Live at the Sydney Opera House is a fantastical night of illusions, sleight of hand and death-defying stunts. Performing together in Australia for the first time, Adam Trent (USA), Enzo Weyne (France), Andrew Basso (Italy), and Gabriella Lester (Canada) are the four Horsemen…
Frank Roberts, a Widjabul Wia-bal and Githabul man, known as ‘Honest Frank’, was Australia’s first Aboriginal Olympian. A man of incredible integrity and determination, Frank’s skills in a boxing ring saw him selected for the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. In My Cousin Frank at the Sydney Opera House, his first cousin, artistic and cultural leader…
Walking through the doors of The Grand Electric was like stepping back into a 1920s speakeasy. A circular stage dominates the centre of the room, with chairs and tables scattered around it. Above the stage, like the crowning jewel, sits an enormous disco ball, that showers the room in dancing bursts of light. The mood…
Appropriately pitched as a “stripped-back, rough-and-ready reimagining”, Calamity Jane at the Sydney Opera House is a rowdy and rambunctious tale of the well-known American frontierswoman. Known as a sharpshooter and avid storyteller, there have been many reprising’s of this infamous character – Doris Day in the 1953 film, Robin Weigert in the 2004 series Deadwood…
In a world where a genocide is being played out on peoples phones and the “leader of the free world” is blatantly censoring anyone who speaks out against him, the worst thing we can do is stop asking questions. Curious at the Sydney Opera House presents four talks in one day. These talks, which address…
Anne Frank is a name synonymous with youth, innocence, and heartbreaking tragedy. Her diaries, published after her death in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in 1945, detailed her life, and that of her family, hiding in an annex in Amsterdam during World War II. The Diary of a Young Girl, commonly referred to as The Diary…
Australia’s leading First Nations performing arts company, Bangarra Dance Theatre, is once again taking to the stage at the Sydney Opera House to present their new work, Illume. After 20 years performing out of the Drama Theatre, Bangarra are making history by bringing their latest work to the main stage in the Joan Sutherland Theatre,…
UPU are a collective based in New Zealand who aim to create more opportunities for Pacific performing artists by making contemporary, Pacific centred works for both stage and screen. UPU, meaning ‘word’, in many different languages of the Pacific Islands, brings together the voices of those living among the islands of the Pacific Ocean, also…
The HerStory Arts Festival (23 – 26 April 2025), presented by Lost Voices Australia Inc. aims to celebrate and amplify women’s stories, especially those that have been lost to HIStory. The three-day event, which includes plays, readings of poetry, memoirs, essays, along with musical performances and art displays, is designed to foster creativity and ignite…
A few days before International Women’s Day I found myself having dinner with a male friend. Seemingly out of nowhere he mentions that ‘Women’s Day’ is coming up and because the bar is in hell when it comes to my expectations of men, I was surprised and impressed that he actually knew the date. He…
It’s that time of year again. A time when people gather together to listen to incredible speakers discussing some of the most interesting and relevant topics facing women today. For more than 10 years All About Women at the Sydney Opera House has shone a light on, not only the discussions we are having, but…
