So February might be the shortest month, but this year it is also a huge time for theatre in Sydney. Australia’s mammoth year for musicals is coming in hot with the Down Under debut of Hadestown firing up at Sydney’s Theatre Royal (from Feb 10) – Christine Anu leads an exciting cast in this genre-defying blockbuster show that blends New Orleans-style jazz and blues with Ancient Greek legend and steampunk aesthetics.
The colourful reign of the Sydney Mardi Gras Festival (Feb 14–Mar 2) is also bringing some wonderful queer theatre to town – and the Sydney Opera House is hosting the local premiere of Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen (Feb 5–23) starring Samuel Barnett, a razor-sharp one-man-show from the producers behind Fleabag and Baby Reindeer; the local team behind Back to Birdy (People’s Choice winner for Best Play in the Time Out Sydney Arts & Culture Awards) is unleashing Cruise (Feb 12–22), a celebration of queer nightlife and paying tribute to a generation lost to the AIDS crisis; the New Theatre is continuing a tradition of bringing seasonally fabulous plays to Newtown with the “gloriously surreal” The Flea (Feb 4–Mar 8); and in the heart of Oxford Street, Qtopia Sydney is also hosting a bunch of shows that celebrate LGBTQIA+ community and resistance across its theatre spaces (suss out the program over here). And if you just need to laugh it all away, US drag champion Bianca Del Rio is bringing her latest world comedy tour Dead Inside to the State Theatre (Feb 7–8).
Photograph: STC/Derek Henderson | ‘Picnic at Hanging Rock’
In the mood for some big drama? The legendary Nancye Hayes is returning to Sydney Theatre Company for the first time in 20 years for the uplifting intergenerational drama of 4000 Miles (Feb 3–Mar 23); and the STC is also bringing together some of the nation’s finest young theatremakers for a new spin on the potent mystery of Picnic at Hanging Rock (Feb 17–Apr 5). If you’re a fan of heart-aching British dramas set in stately homes on the moors, you also oughta be running up that hill before UK theatre heavyweight Emma Rice’s critically acclaimed adaptation of Wuthering Heights (Jan 31–Feb 15) closes its exclusive Sydney season.
Meanwhile, Griffin brings us Nucleus (Feb 14–Mar 15), a spicy new play from celebrated Aussie playwright Alana Valentine, which sees two characters at polar opposite ends of the nuclear power debate finding themselves inextricably attracted to one another; and Belvoir serves up Song of First Desire (Feb 13–Mar 25), Andrew Bovell’s passionate new play set in the garden of a Madrid home.
Photograph: Hayes Theatre Co/John Macrae | ‘Pirates of Penzance’
If you prefer to keep things light, there’s also two swashbuckling seafaring productions to catch with Peter and the Starcatcher (’til Feb 9) at the Capitol Theatre, and Jay Laga’aia is buckling up for an epic voyage with The Pirates of Penzance (Feb 14–Mar 16) at Hayes Theatre Co. Read on for our critics’ reviews and more top theatrical picks.
The genre-defying, multi-award-winning, smash-hit Broadway sensation, Hadestown has finally made its way down to Sydneytown – and it’s unlike any musical you’ve ever seen or heard. With industrial steampunk aesthetics, a soulful jazz-folk fusion, and even a comment on our dying world, this is a brave new world for musical theatre.
Been there, done that? Think again, my friend.
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Photograph: Michael Cassel Group/Daniel Boud | The Sydney cast of ‘Titanique’
Clearly, Sydney can’t get enough of this ridicoulously funny musical parody! Titanique‘s exclusive season has been extended all the way through summer until March 30. Prepare to board the “Ship of Dreams” for this camp-as-hell musical fantasia made-for-and-by-the-gays, starring cabaret legend Marney McQueen as an unhinged Celine Dion.
Plays
Photograph: Old Fitz Theatre/Phil Erbacher
A fascinating piece of queer dramatic history based on a true story, The Children’s Hour was the first play from legendary American playwright Lillian Hellman. It premiered on Broadway in 1934, a time when the mention of homosexuality on stage was illegal in New York State. Despite the fact that it played 691 shows to eager audiences, it was banned from performance in London, Boston and Chicago. This new version directed by Kim Hardwick in the intimate Old Fitz Theatre is compelling and important viewing.
Sydney Theatre Company’s new production of Amy Herzog’s 4000 Miles marks the second time this comedic-yet-tense finalist for the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Drama has appeared on the Sydney stage. With a focus on struggle, resilience and change in both the personal and generational senses, the play explores the evolving relationship between 21-year-old Leo (Shiv Palekar, The Tempest) and his 91-year-old grandmother, Vera (Nancye Hayes).
Photograph: Chris Lundie/New Theatre
Director Patrick Kennedy (Sophia=(Wisdom) Part 3: The Cliffs) brings his signature surrealist style to this punk retelling of the 1889 Cleveland Street Scandal from British playwright James Fritz at the New Theatre. The play reimagines the scandal – in which a secret gay brothel, frequented by a number of gentlemen and staffed by post boys, was discovered in 19th-century London – as a collage of scenes between aristocrats, arrested post boy Charlie and his mother Emily, and even glimpses into Queen Victoria’s conversations with God.
Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going to Happen
Hailing from the same creative force behind the runaway success of Fleabag and Baby Reindeer, Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen similarly muddies the waters between truth and fiction to backfoot audiences. Landing at the Sydney Opera House‘s Playhouse Theatre for Sydney Mardi Gras, it looks for all the world like a stand-up comedy show – thanks to its simple stool, coiled long-cord mic and naught much else but an occasionally flashing lighting set-up.
Photograph: Ensemble Theatre/Prudence Upton
Aria is a tasteful black comedy for Kirribilli’s Ensemble Theatre, doing the job its audience wants it to do – it offers plenty of laughs, a few political jabs here and there, but never pushes the envelope too far, with veteran playwright David Williamson playing it safe in this brand new offering. The play has the airs of Don’s Party for the upper echelons of society, but without the depth of Williamson’s more well-known works.
Dungeons and Dragons The Twenty-Sided Tavern
Photograph: Supplied | Dungeons and Dragons The Twenty-Sided Tavern
If you’re a fan of the world’s favourite roleplay game, you won’t want to miss the Aussie debut of this interactive show inspired by the game; it’s making its Aussie debut at the Sydney Opera House this summer. With a cast of just five actors and more than 30 playable characters, the ever-changing play brings audiences into a magical world where they play a key role in building the narrative.
