Sydney Festival 2023 Line-Up

Image: Maho Magic Bar. Photographer: Peter Wallis

Sydney Festival, which returns across 25 days from 5-29 January 2023, has announced its program.

Playing host to its largest lineup of international artists since 2019, the second program from Artistic Director Olivia Ansell features 18 World Premieres and 14 Australian Exclusives from across a full program of over 100 unique events – 26 of which will be free – featuring 748 performances traversing 54 venues.

Literally taking the city as its canvas, the 2023 program will encourage Sydneysiders and visitors to see Sydney differently with site-specific programming unfolding all over town, inviting audiences to revive the long-forgotten haunts of old-world Sydney, engage in familiar locations in different and unusual ways and immerse themselves in emerging spaces beyond their doorsteps. 

The city's venues, gardens and urban sites will be reimagined and revitalised specifically for the festival – think an untouched 1970s underground cocktail lounge springing to life in the central CBD; Old Government House in Parramatta Park transformed by the stories of the Dharug people; or an operatic beachscape transported to Sydney Town Hall. 

Image: Sydney Symphony Under the Stars Photo by Wendell Teodoro.

As in previous years, Sydney Festival remains a repository of diverse and cultural storytelling and performance, buoyed by specially commissioned works and collaborative projects and the event’s distinct sense of place. The 2023 program will champion women-led and female identifying creative representation, environmental advocacy and powerful truth telling. 

Of the 2023 event, Artistic Director Olivia Ansell said: “There is nowhere better than Sydney to experience an exhilarating summer of art. Made possible by over 1,000 local and international participating artists and the rich diversity of stories and cultures shared. Please join us this January to see the city anew – from proud First Nation stories, inspiring international collaborations and remarkable one-off events to underbelly immersive experiences that only a city like Sydney could conjure.”

Minster for the Arts, Ben Franklin said the NSW Government is proud to be the largest single financial supporter of the Sydney Festival, which is on track to attract thousands of people from Sydney, NSW, across Australia and internationally to support our creative and 24-hour economies.

“In 2023, the Sydney Festival presents an exceptional program, showcasing Sydney’s magnificent art and cultural spaces. I invite you to indulge in what promises to be an unmissable festival, and enjoy the incredible homegrown and international talent,” Mr Franklin said.

FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

Transforming Sydney Town Hall with 26 tonnes of sand, the award-winning Sun & Sea is far from your average day at the beach. A sellout at the 2019 Venice Biennale where it was awarded the Golden Lion, this durational English-language opera work in-the-round – also in-the-sand – confronts themes of climate emergency with humour and power. Written and created by Lithuanian artists Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė, and Lina Lapelytė, Sun & Sea also enlists Sydney clubs, choirs and performance to localise to Sydney’s audiences and beaches. Sun & Sea arrives at Sydney Festival for its exclusive Australian presentation. 

Image: Sun & Sea by Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė, Vaiva Grainytė, Lina Lapelytė at the Teatro Argentina 2021, Rome. Photography Neon Realism © Courtesy of the artists.. 

Curated by Sydney Festival’s Creative Artist in Residence, Jacob Nash, the festival’s Blak Out program is led by the world premiere Tracker, an ambitious interweaving of dance, ceremony and text by choreographer-director Daniel Riley. Developed by celebrated First Nations creatives including playwright Ursula Yovich (Man With the Iron Neck, SF2019), director Rachael Maza AM (Black Ties, SF2020), celebrated composer James Henry and in-demand visual artist Jonathan Jones, Tracker explores the life of Riley’s Great-Great Uncle, Alec “Tracker” Riley and the complex legacies of decisions made in the context of racist colonialism.

The bygone CBD beacon that is the Harry Seidler-designed Commercial Travellers’ Association building will be brought to life once again as The Weary Traveller, a late night festival haunt and pop up venue. Deep beneath the busy sidewalks of Martin Place this slice of 1970s Sydney – think red shag carpet on the walls and velvet padded booths – will play host to a 16 nights of bespoke and intimate gigs from local and international artists, including Alice Skye, Astral People, Automatic, June Jones, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, Lil Silva, Party Dozen, Tom Snowdon, Moktar, Two Birds with Bayang, Coloured Stone, HTRK and Potion. 

Above the underground bar, in the mushroom-shaped round of the Commercial Travellers’ Association’s 28-room hotel, American artist Kelsey Lu presents a world premiere durational work that travels far beyond the regular constraints of contemporary music and art. In The Lucid: A Dream Portal to Awakening, Lu has crafted an 8 hour audio journey that examines how sound, mood and music can influence our thoughts and expand our imagination. Guests are invited to check-in and experience a one night stay in another sonic realm with Kelsey Lu as their guide. 

The no-clues title of James Thiérrée’s latest work of surreal theatrical imagination barely scratches the surface of what you will see. ROOM is the most ambitious work yet from the Swiss-born auteur and his Compagnie du Hanneton; a sprawling, magical, restless collision of dance, mime, acrobatics, music and jaw-dropping stage effects. 

Image: ROOM

In an Australian exclusive at Sydney Opera House, one of the greatest flamenco dancers of her generation and any other, Spain’s Sara Baras returns to Australia to present Alma, an ensemble showcase in which flamenco embraces bolero, leading onto siguiriya, soleá, caña, rumba and buleria. A leading choreographer and director as well as a dancer, Baras weaves colour, shape and sensuality into this intoxicating new work which premiered in Seville in 2021. 

In the city’s west, at Riverside Theatre, Afrique en Cirque sees Guinean/Canadian troupe Kalabanté Productions take contemporary circus to dizzying new levels of fun. Drawing on the Nyamakala tradition of circus practiced in West Africa, the talented troupe of performers and musicians will showcase their infectious energy and remarkable agility exclusively for Sydney Festival audiences. 

Old Government House in Parramatta Park will become a wholly Dharug place for several days for Dyin Nura (Women’s Place) while Brenda L Croft’s commanding portrait photography is projected across the façade, illuminating the site’s enduring significance for First Nations women. Accompanied by two evenings of music and performance, audiences will gather on Dharug land for communal celebration and reflection, while at Barangaroo, Croft’s stripped back and steadfast portraits of the First Nations women and girls who are contemporary sovereign warriors and avatar-sentinals of Cammeraygal woman Barangaroo will watch over the headland.

Featuring the Dutch ensemble Asko|Schönberg, Antarctica arrives in Sydney following a landmark Amsterdam debut, the daring product of an all-Australian creative team and cast, now ready to shine on home turf. Realised by the Sydney Chamber Opera, Antarctica is an exploration of the historic, mythic and scientific beliefs inspired by the last great wilderness on Earth.  

Image: Antarctica

Welcome the day and kiss goodbye the night in this concert in two parts: Call to the Morning, Call to the Night. Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith arrives from the US to help usher in the new year with an outdoor sonic ritual at dawn for Call to the Morning. Tucked behind Milk Beach along the Hermitage Foreshore of Sydney Harbour audiences can bathe in ambient sounds and reflect on the stillness of the city. 

Later, as darkness descends, Call to the Night will see Bonobo – one of the biggest names in dance music – play a one-time party in the brutalist Masonic Centre’s Banquet Hall. Known for melding organic and electronic sounds into multi-layered atmospherics, full of tension and release, his DJ sets are equally dynamic and twice as unexpected.

On the evening of 25 January at Barangaroo Reserve, Vigil: Awaken will be created by Jacob Nash and Stephen Page – a ceremony of traditional Eora stories that look towards the future, presented towards the Western side of Sydney Harbour incorporating smoke, song, dance, light and design. 

https://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/

THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE

Getting older is inevitable, but growing up takes courage. A tender, exquisite monologue written and performed by rising star Thomas Weatherall (Netflix’s Heartbreak High) at Belvoir Street Theatre, Blue takes us deep into the beauty and sadness of a young life at a crossroads.

Also at Belvoir, written by and starring luminary actress, Elaine Crombie, the acclaimed Janet’s Vagrant Love offers hard-hitting truths about raising young Blak men as a single mum, delivered in a beautiful blend of music, drama and wry wit. 30 years of original song, 42 years of heart beating, and a millennia of returning spirit.

Image: Janet’s Vagrant Love

Cut-throat journalist Jez Connell is out for her next sting. It’s been a year since she brought down one of TV’s most lauded stars for behaving badly and now she’s got Michael King, the top-rated darling of public radio, in her sights. This time, it’s personal. A Broadcast Coup is a fiery new comedy by Melanie Tait (The Appleton Ladies’ Potato Race) and Ensemble Theatre that will send ripples through the airwaves and spark heated debate. 

Inspired by performer Debra Keenahan's lived experience, this provocative new work addresses the physical, social and personal dimensions of personhood to examine the subject of ‘being different’ as an insider. Making its world premiere at Casula Powerhouse, Othering encourages audiences to experience the world ‘as if’ they are a person with dwarfism and reflect upon how we use words and actions to ‘other’ people who are seen to be different. 

Held at Riverside Theatre, the Multicultural Comedy Gala is a side-splitting celebration of Australia’s rich cultural diversity, by a world class selection of the most acclaimed and celebrated comedians in the nation. Featuring Akmal, Dilruk Jayasinha, Rebecca De Unamuno and Ting Lim, this star-studded line up will poke fun at everything that makes us different, but so much the same. 

Direct from the UK and set in the awkward online worlds of your Millennial youth, Happy Meal by Tabby Lamb (they/she) is a warm, witty and nostalgic story of two young people transitioning from teens to adults, from MSN to Tik Tok, from cis to trans – and falling in love along the way. Winner of the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe First Award, Happy Meal is directed by Jamie Fletcher (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Leeds/Manchester Production) and features acclaimed performance by actors Sam Crerar (“gorgeous”, The Scotsman; “endearing”, The Queer Review).

Image: Happy Meal

The wildly versatile Jacob Rajan (star of the beloved The Guru of Chai) transports audiences to the vibrant chaos of Mumbai for a multi-character one-man show from Indian Ink Theatre Company. Loaded with warmth and depth, Paradise of the Impermanence of Icecream is a moving production that melds a dash of Bollywood disco and playful puppetry with thought-provoking musings on the eternal afterlife, and the looming extinction of India’s sacred vultures. 

Set against the violence of the Trojan War, Holding Achilles turns a contemporary eye on one of the ancient world’s most famous heroes, and his relationship with not so well-known lover, Patroclus. With aerial performance, exquisite puppetry and live music from Montaigne, this epic co-production from Brisbane visual theatre masterminds Dead Puppet Society and Sydney physical theatre virtuosos Legs On The Wall (THAW, SF2022) blends physicality and design into a story of mythic proportions.

Beloved performer Justine Clarke delivers an intense monologue about family and violence, in a lauded new work by Tony Award-winning British writer Dennis Kelly (Matilda), Girls & Boys. An unnamed woman, smart and funny, tells her story. Meeting her husband in an airport queue she “took an instant dislike to the man”. Passionate love, marriage, career and kids follow. A perfect life, until it isn’t. 

Image: Girls & Boys

Shake off your festival hangover with morning mimosas and fabulous drag, circus and cabaret hosted by award-winning cabaret queen Victoria Falconer. Inspired by the drag brunch phenomenon in New York and London, this adults-only hi-glam daylight soiree welcomes early birds and all-nighters. Smashed: The Brunch Party is the brunch option Sydney needs.

The late-night love-child of circus, comedy and cabaret, Circus TrickTease’s Werk It is stacked with big tricks and big characters bedecked in the finest spandex the 90s has to offer. This highly skilled, over-the-top ensemble will suck you into their Oz Style fever dream and spit you out sweaty.              

MUSIC

Asko|Schönberg in concert with Ensemble Offspring will see the world’s finest new music champions honour the late Louis Andriessen, a leading twentieth century Dutch composer, by celebrating the diversity of voices he influenced from David Lang through to Australian composers Mary Finsterer, Damien Ricketson and Dutch Australian Kate Moore. The famously uncompromising and quirky sound of Asko|Schönberg (who will also perform Antarctica) is perfectly matched with Australia’s own innovators, Ensemble Offspring, as works from Andriessen and his most celebrated students are expertly performed.

In a world premiere immersive audio experience, Sydney Festival has commissioned UK poet and experimental saxophonist Alabaster dePlume to create In Chamber. Alabaster has prepared this piece, in isolation, for viewers to experience, in their own isolation within a room just big enough for one person, surrounded by thick steel and concrete walls: a literal safe in the basement of the Margot Kimpton Hotel. 

Four of the country’s leading female vocalists will be celebrated and honoured in the festival’s cabaret series, transforming the beautiful Wharf 1. In Show People, Christie Whelan-Browne lovingly reveals the unpolished guts of the entertainment industry, in a scalpel-sharp show in which she plays six characters – each with an insider’s view of how the showbiz sausage gets made. 

Image: Christie Whelan-Browne

Joni Mitchell once described her iconic album Blue as “the purest emotional record that I will ever make in my life.” In honour of the album’s 50th anniversary and for one spine-tingling evening, ARIA award-winning artist Katie Noonan brings her own touch to the unparalleled artistry of Blue, accompanied by a five-piece band. 

The soulful sounds of multi-award winning performer Ursula Yovich and her live band featuring bassist Adam Ventura (Midnight Oil), will electrify audiences at An Evening with Ursula Yovich – a journey through the universal language of song, inspired by Ursula’s roots in Arnhem land.

Rounding out the Women in Cabaret series is Australia’s power ballad princess, Prinnie Stevens (The Voice; The Bodyguard; Thriller Live) who will perform highlights by the great women of song – Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Whitney Houston, Beyoncé and more – in an evening of soul and R&B entitled The Lady Sings the Blues. 

Image: Lady Sings The Blues - John McRae Photography.

The Old Rugged Cross brings together the deeply powerful voice of Emma Donovan with celebrated pianist, composer, arranger and conductor Paul Grabowsky, plus a collection of Sydney's finest jazz musicians, to perform country gospel classics at City Recital Hall. This stellar collection of talent pays tribute to a rich musical legacy in arrangements given the inimitable Grabowsky treatment, a loving nod to grand traditions, to the domestic and the divine, and a homage to the great Emma Donovan herself.

Dry My Tears offers an intimate acoustic evening with iconic performer Paul Capsis as he interprets cabaret, jazz and ragtime classics (Nina Simone, Marianne Faithful, Elton John, Kurt Weil) alongside Francis Greep on piano. Capsis and Greep selected the song program to take the audience on a journey through a story of Capsis’s life: of love gained, love lost, and strength found again. Capsis says, with trademark wickedness, “razorblades will be provided.”

Described as New York’s queen of avant-garde piano, visionary Australian pianist Lisa Moore (and a long time touring member of Bang on a Can) delivers a distinctly unusual program ranging from simple pop songs and virtuosic solo piano to rich chamber works and transcendent interpretations of the likes of Stravinsky, Janacek, Randy Newman, Philip Glass and more. With violinist Jenny Khafagi and clarinetist Lloyd Van’t Hoff, Show Your Heart is contemporary classical performance at its best.

Sink into a spell-binding new ensemble work from Hamed Sadeghi, in whose virtuosic hands the tar (Iranian lute) has never sounded so beautiful. Joined by his six-piece brass, double bass and percussion ensemble, he’ll perform Empty Voices, a brand-new work inspired by Sufi mysticism.

Image: Hamed Sadeghi

In an investigation of extreme wind and ice, pristine Antarctic field recordings combine with live industrial percussion to envelope the audience in a visceral soundscape and performance environment.  Housed at Carriageworks, Polar Force makes us rethink our relationship to the natural world and explores notions of human fragility and isolation from the perspective of the coldest, windiest and driest continent on earth. 

Join the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and conductor Benjamin Northey for a starlit evening of orchestral classics with a Lunar New Year twist at Parramatta Park. Sydney Symphony Under the Stars will feature music from Tan Dun, Chinese folk favourites, the best of film music, and symphonic masterpieces, ensuring an evening of good times, good company and great music.

Woven Song is the latest international project by Short Black Opera, featuring nine new compositions by Deborah Cheetham AO each inspired by the Australian Tapestry Workshop Embassy Tapestries. Inspiring a contemporary response in current classical music practice, Cheetham performs with musicians local to each country – Singapore, Japan, France, Ireland, China and India – breathing new life into each work. Woven Song is a unique collaboration across cultures and art forms, building international creative communities.

In a series of special, one-off performances in collaboration with Brett Whiteley Foundation and Art Gallery of New South Wales, the Brett Whiteley Studio Sessions will see three unique performers: iconic frontman Tim Freedman (The Whitlams); singer/songwriter Martha Marlow with experimental jazz legend Chris Abrahams (The Necks); and rising jazz star Alma Zygier make a response to the work of one of Sydney’s most iconic visual artists at the Brett Whiteley Studio.

DANCE

Arriving from the UK and created in collaboration with legendary dance innovator William Forsythe, Neighbours unites two extraordinary and culturally distinct dancers Brigel Gjoka and Rauf “RubberLegz” Yasit. An abstract b-boy and a contemporary dancer, with Kurdish and Albanian roots respectively, explore what binds and separates us with stellar technique and surprising intimacy in this Australian premiere work.

Three remarkable Australian talents – composer Elena Kats-Chernin (AO), choreographer Meryl Tankard (AO) and visual artist Régis Lansac (OAM) – reunite for a thrilling deep-dive into the human experience of here and now in a new work produced and commissioned by FORM dance projects. A Sydney Festival world premiere production, Kairos will encompass a vast lexicon of human experience and human movement: the dark and challenging; the ugly and beautiful; the humorous and joyful. 

Set in a real-life bowling alley, Guttered mirrors society’s obsession with winning and losing and the ways people living with a disability are often over-protected to soften the blows of failure. In an immersive portrayal of the dignity of risk-taking, Adelaide’s award-winning company Restless Dance Theatre explores the power of making your own mistakes.

Image: Guttered. Photographer: Roy Vandervegt

Stephanie Lake Company (Colossus, Sydney Festival 2020) returns to Sydney with a work to raise the spirit and rattle the bones. Composed by Robin Fox and choreographed by Lake, Manifesto brings together nine dancers and nine drummers on nine kits in an explosive ‘tattoo to optimism’, rooted in the ancient and frankly unbeatable symbiosis of dancing and percussion.  

FAMILY & OUTDOOR

Bangarra’s first dedicated work for kids, Waru – journey of the small turtle, a green turtle named Migi navigates her way back to the beach where she was born in a journey of discovery and survival. Created by Stephen Page, together with Hunter Page-Lochard and Bangarra alumni Dancers and Choreographers Sani Townson and Elma Kris, Waru provides teachers, parents and care-givers with a unique opportunity to open up conversations about climate change, caring for the environment and the traditional cultural values of respect and reciprocity. 

Image: Waru - journey of the small turtle. Bangarra. Photographer:Daniel Boud

At the Sydney Opera House, cross-Tasman collaboration, Hide the Dog is a world premiere theatre work for the whole family. It follows the last remaining Tasmanian Tiger, Tigs and his two young companions as they dodge hunters and set sail for Aotearoa and safety. But first they must outwit the Māori gods and palawa spirits in this magical story from Performing Lines TAS.

Get wet at Retrosplash!, a 1980s pool party fantasy meets immersive workout meets aqua aerobics extravaganza. Hosted by the Retrosweat All-stars, participants will float, flex and flip as the sun sets behind the palm trees and a DJ plays 80s bangers.

Plunge into the world of sharks and choose your own immersive adventure in Erth’s Shark Dive at the Australian Museum. Dive below the surface to marvel at these prehistoric fish and experience a high-energy Jaws-esque escapade or a more serene voyage.

At the Australian National Maritime Museum Brickwrecks sees astonishing shipwreck stories come alive through Ryan ‘The Brickman’ McNaught’s stunning LEGO models, hands-on activities and real shipwreck objects, while Shipwreck Odyssey takes visitors on a voyage beneath the turquoise waves and coral cays of Queensland’s Wreck Reefs on an adventure into our oceans through live storytelling, performance and a responsive projection playscape.

Image: Brickwrecks. Photo by Rebecca Mansell. Courtesy of WAM and ANMM

Created and performed by the Aotearoa/New Zealand-born, Paris-trained and Helsinki-based clowning sensation Thom Monckton, The Artist is a portrait of the creative process and the mad pursuit of the elusive muse. Master clown and acrobat Monckton in fine form in this rib-tickling showcase of physical comedy, circus skills and imagination. 

Humans pull the strings but insects rule the ring in this delightful marionette show for all ages. Performed to a commissioned score and ideal for audiences aged two and up, the award-winning Insect Circus from London’s String Theatre enlivens a centuries-old artform, whilst giving a well-deserved platform to some remarkably talented bugs, of course.

Direct from Japan, Maho Magic Bar speeds into Sydney like the Shinkansen, with superstar magicians and sleight-of-hand specialists ready to whisk you into a neon-lit Tokyo night of mischief and amazement. Fuelled by a carefully curated bar menu of premium Japanese cocktails and spirits, Maho Magic Bar is a once-in-a-lifetime experience you just might have to do twice.

Two bodies in space, tipping and spinning, connected and entwined, soaring above the Museum of Contemporary Art’s front lawns. A joyful and awing aerial collaboration, The Air Between Us is created and performed by acclaimed New Zealand dancer and choreographer Chloe Loftus and award-winning Māori dance artist and wheelchair-user Rodney Bell. 

The product of decades of intensive research and development, Hobart’s Terrapin Puppet Theatre presents the future of litter collection in your city: I.B.I.S. (International Bin Integration Services), an ibis named Ibsen trained to pick up rubbish and put it where it belongs. Tip Duck is a delightful roving outdoor performance piece made from salvaged, recycled and sustainable materials that puts the bin in bin chicken, and also puts the chicken in the bin (if you’re finished with it).  

 

SYDNEY FESTIVAL AT HOME

From the stage, to the couch: highlights from the Sydney Festival program will be available for livestream throughout the festival, from full length production to talks and in conversations. Other works will be accessible free of charge and on demand, allowing audiences near and far to catch up and discover more.

Recorded live by QPAC during the Brisbane Festival world premiere season, audiences will get a chance to see this exciting new Australian production of Holding Achilles (Dead Puppet Society and Legs on the Wall) at home and on demand for a limited time, following the season at Carriageworks. 

Available on demand, Step into Paradise is the story of Jenny Kee and Linda Jackson’s remarkable creative partnership and enduring friendship. Together they looked at Australia with wit, irreverence and astonishing imagination to create a distinct Australian fashion like no other and gifted it to the world. This is an evocative ride through their dreams, fame, triumph, tragedy, their riches, losses, determination, rebellion, the racism, their sexuality and heartbreak.

Circus Without Borders is a documentary about Guillaume Saladin and Yamoussa Bangoura, best friends and world-class acrobats from remote corners of the globe who share the same dream: to bring hope and change to their struggling communities through circus. Seven years in the making, this tale of two circuses — Artcirq and Kalabante — is a culture-crossing performance piece that offers a portal into two remote communities, and an inspiring story of resilience and joy.

Traversing movement, music, and art, Powerhouse Latitudes is a series weaving the stories and voices of Western Sydney. Nine artistic commissions explore themes of distance, audibility, and perspective–drawing inspiration from the Powerhouse collection across three distinct films available free and on demand. Premiering at the historic Blouza Hall in Granville, an iconic former cinema and one of the many locations from the films, the program's launch event will also be broadcast live, bringing the artists, cast, and collaborators together for a night of film, live performances and music.

Four outstanding shows from the most recent Sydney Festival program, 宿 (stay), Erth’s Prehistoric Picnic, The Pulse and Italian Baroque with Circa, have been selected to share with the audiences at home and on demand. Recorded by Australian Theatre Live in January 2022, these carefully crafted, high quality, multi-camera films will reproduce the theatre experience for viewers who might not usually get the chance to see such works.

https://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/