This year marks the 30th anniversary of The Go-Betweens’ 16 Lovers Lane. Three former members of the band played a special tribute at the State Theatre for Sydney Festival. And rather than dive for the group’s memory, the artists rose up and soared in a sea of nostalgia while supported by a cast of contemporaries…
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The name Jean-Jacques Perrey could mean everything and absolutely nothing to different people. Perrey was a musical chameleon and the first and only virtuoso of the Ondioline, a rare French electronic musical instrument and precursor to the modern synthesiser. Perrey’s work has been sampled by rap artists, played on South Park and garnered the likes…
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The original “Town Hall” debate was no ordinary affair. So it should come as no surprise that the one-act play based on this historic event is no ordinary piece of theatre. The show comes courtesy of New York’s The Wooster Group and rather than a straight, re-telling of an already chaotic feminist discussion, they inject…
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A dance-theatre piece presented using virtual reality technology in which the audience subconsciously chooses their own performance is a fantastic concept, but with Whist the end-result is confusing and even a little disturbing. For those interested in psychology and, in particular, the work of Sigmund Freud, this is an immersive treat. But if you’re looking…
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Danish group Between Music’s Aquasonic was one of the more intriguing inclusions in this year’s Sydney Festival program. Billed as the ‘world’s first underwater band’, the group performs with purpose-built instruments while completely submerged. The team apparently developed the show for over a decade, generating optimal conditions for water acoustics and creating the soundscapes. The…
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In less than a month Sydney Festival will be kicking off their 2018 program, which is as diverse as ever with its intelligent blend of art, performance, theatre, music and more. Though for many it’s the festival’s beating heart, the pop-up village that will be set in Hyde Park, that’s most exciting. From 5th to…
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Oh you thought Hyde Park was only Sydney’s most exciting destination during October’s Night Noodle Markets? Wrong. Each January Sydney Festival transforms a small but spacious section of the sprawling public park into the Meriton Festival Village, an endlessly exciting hub that dances around pop ups from some of the city’s best food and drink…
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The 2018 Sydney Festival came to play and man, does the Harbour City look set to absolutely shine come January. Festival Director Wesley Enoch and his team have compiled a number of wonderful creations spanning theatre, music, visual arts and more for next year’s Sydney Festival, bringing some heavy hitting international names through, all the while shining the…
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Language warning: if the title makes you uneasy you probably won’t enjoy this show. It slaps you across the face with vulgarity, ugliness and brutality. But if you love innovative, challenging theatre, you must see SHIT at the Seymour Centre this July. SHIT is not so much a narrative as it is a profile of…
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Performing at St. Stephen’s Uniting Church on Saturday night, Dori Freeman‘s set offered the perfect mix of her own country tunes along with a wonderful selection of country, Americana and gospel classics. Accompanied by her new husband Nick Fall on percussion and vocals, Dori Freeman’s show well and truly supported the buzz hailing her as…
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Made up of Danalogue the Conqueror on synth/keys, Betamax Killer on drums and King Shabaka as their resident sexy sax man sologram, East London trio The Comet is Coming know how to deliver dance worthy, saxophone heavy jams. And at yesterday’s Sydney Festival appearance, set inside the beautiful Spiegeltent, the group made sure we knew…
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Take a Cirque du Soleil show. Strip out all the colour, the costumes, the set. Turn off the music. What you’d be left with is something that looks a lot like Dimitris Papaioannou’s Still Life. Featuring feats of acrobatic strength and clowning, Still Life is a beautiful piece of moving art, created from the most…
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Ahead of their brief Australian tour – which kicks off in Melbourne tonight, I caught up with Danalogue the Conqueror (aka Dan Leavers), who plays synthesiser in The Comet is Coming, to talk about their visit, the apocalypse – the dark one who will not be named – and much more: Your debut Channel The…
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You’ve probably heard the phrase ‘wrestling with their inner demons’ – you may even know someone who has. In Institute, English physical theatre company, Gecko, has taken that idea and turned it inside out, giving us a powerful and beautiful physical representation of the inner workings of the human mind. Institute does not follow an…
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Described as “part anthem, part campfire story, and part instructions for the dismantling of the gender stories we tell”, Tomboy Survival Guide comes to Sydney Festival all the way from the Yukon in Canada, and serves as one of the most powerful performances to grace this year’s festival. The show is led by Ivan Coyote,…
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Of course I knew soft ocean waves weren’t creeping up to multi-instrumentalist Yann Tiersen when he took the stage at the Sydney Opera House earlier this week, but I could have sworn I saw them. The man best known for scoring timeless French film Amélie (mostly with songs taken from his first few albums) staged an…
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Native Earth Performing Arts’ Sydney Festival offering, Huff, is arresting, confronting, and oddly comedic. Immensely talented writer and performer, Cliff Cardinal, ensures the audience is continually unsettled, and you will find yourself laughing at circumstances that are far from funny. If you’re looking for a feel-good night out, safely ensconced behind the theatrical fourth wall,…
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The irony of gentrification was exposed and wryly chastised on last year’s Grammy-nominated instant-classic The Hope Six Demolition Project, the ninth studio album from the inimitable PJ Harvey and the reason for her current Australian tour. The 11-track project was, and is, a poetic flare straight to the core of misguided bureaucracy, drawing the ire…
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Ahead of her show at St. Stephen’s Uniting Church as part of this year’s Sydney Festival, the AU catches up with Wafia. With new material on the way following on from a successful year of music and shows in front of consistently growing crowds around the country, Wafia stares down the barrel of another huge year of…
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This week, iconic New Zealand group The Bats celebrate their more than 30 years together as a band (and with all their original members I might add!) by releasing their 9th full length record, The Deep Set. Out this Friday through Flying Nun Records, the group then travel to Australia for two shows – one…
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King Roger, or Krol Roger, is a rarely performed Polish opera that takes you inside the conflicted mind of the King as he battles with the seduction of a hedonistic Shepard/God. And by “takes you inside” it means quite literally, for the main stage is a giant head- the hollowed back forming stairs and platforms…
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Picture yourself at the edge of a rainforest, standing in the sun, eager to embark on a trek. Signs point you towards the path and provide helpful information about the journey soon to be undertaken. As you progress down the track, the canopy begins to close over you. New sounds emerge to drown out the…
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Marking the band’s first live appearances since 2014, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds hit the road earlier this month on an extensive tour of Australia and New Zealand, off the back of their sixteenth studio record, Skeleton Tree. Tonight this landed them in Sydney for the first of two shows at the ICC Sydney…
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It took three LPs and an EP for Natalie Mering aka Weyes Blood to finally make it to Australia, with the American musician making her debut on our shores earlier tonight at Sydney Festival’s Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent. Unaccompanied o our country by her usual band, she enlisted the help of a group of fantastic local…
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Celia Pacquola is (quite literally) everywhere. Turn on the ABC and you’re highly likely to see her face either on Utopia, her own new show Rosehaven or in her AACTA-winning role in The Beautiful Lie. Having built a reputation in standup for the better part of a decade, it’s a natural progression for someone who’s…
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Moogahlin Performing Arts‘ biennial celebration of local and international First Nations playwriting, the Yellamundie National First Peoples Playwriting Festival returns later this month. In partnership with Sydney Festival and presented at Carriageworks the festival provides a platform for playwrights, either emerging or established, from all across Australia. The festival has since its inception in 2013…
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For his second sold out show at Sydney Festival this weekend, Los Angeles based musician Moses Sumney moved from the ethereal church to the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent (a circus tent of sorts), with crowds spiraling around the Meriton Festival Village well in advance of his arrival. Opening with his vocal only Hebrew prayer “Incantation”, standing in…
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With her acclaimed album Oh No bringing Jessy Lanza to Sydney Festival for a much-anticipated show in Hyde Park on Friday night, ahead of shows at Sugar Mountain in Melbourne and other appearances around the country, we caught up with the Canadian musician to find out just how she is anticipating bringing her music to Australia for the first…
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The term “Hakawati” may not mean a lot to people today. In fact, you’d probably be forgiven for thinking it was something Japanese. Hakawati actually means the art of storytelling in the Arabic tradition where story time is combined with the breaking of bread or sharing of food. It’s a wonderful concept and has now…
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Urban Theatre Project’s Home Country is not so much a theatrical production as it is a full-bodied cultural experience, and it’s one not to be missed. Over three and a half hours of theatre, music and food, you are immersed into the worlds of others. It is a piece that challenges you to consider your…
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