By Rama Gaind.
Sydney Harbour hosts the annual ocean extravaganza Ferrython, one of Australia’s most popular and iconic events on 26 January.
January is a month when every year, Sydney Festival transforms the city into a “cultural cacophony of theatre, music, dance and ideas”. Not only does the 2020 program — until 26 January — showcase the very best of international and local arts, it also highlights the very best of Harbour City.
The festival sets out to engage minds, stir souls and transform the city with its blockbuster 2020 program. The audience is invited to discover the best of new Australian and international theatre, music, visual art, dance and ideas in corners of the city, both known and unknown.
From Barangaroo Reserve and Parramatta to some of the city’s most unique spaces, the festival’s 2020 line-up will see festivalgoers of all ages exploring the city through a range of over 75 large-scale public events, exhibitions, installations and performances.
As the largest single commissioner of Australian works in the country, Sydney Festival 2020 presents 46 new co-commissioned works, alongside 14 world premiere shows, four Australian premieres and six Australian exclusives, highlighting the Festival’s commitment to taking local talent and creativity to the world stage, while at the same time bringing the best of the world to Sydney.
Forget Me Not is a new audience interactive production by Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes. It will be on at Carriageworks, as part of the Sydney Festival, until
26 January.
An essential fixture of Sydney’s summer calendar, director Wesley Enoch said:
“Sydney Festival brings to our city the newest works from the world’s most adventurous artists. We unearth the interesting, the new and the exciting. Wherever there is a debate to be had, a diversity of opinion or the need to speak the neglected story, Sydney Festival is there. We are proudly diverse. We are equal parts cultural ambition and celebration.”
What’s on
Some of the festival highlights include the return of all-ages festival favourites Opera in the Domain and Sydney Symphony Under the Stars; Reg Livermore’s groundbreaking, gender-flexing Betty Blokk-Buster character returns to wow a new generation in Betty Blokk-Buster Reimagined, starring Josh Quong Tart; multidisciplinary artist Lars Jan and Early Morning Opera will bring essayist Joan Didion’s now-iconic 1979 work The White Album to the stage; and Canadian choreographer Dana Gringas and Animals of Distinction will present their monumental new dance work Frontera.
Buŋgul, Gurrumul’s Mother’s Buŋgul, Gurrumul’s Grandmother’s Buŋgul, Gurrumul’s Manikay is a tribute to the talent and musical legacy of Gurrumul Yunupiŋu. With the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, his family perform the songlines that have forged their identity. Directed by senior Yolŋgu Don Wininba Ganambarr and Nigel Jamieson, with live performances by Yolŋgu dancers and senior songmen, Buŋgul is a ceremonial celebration of Dr G’s final record Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow), one of the transcendent albums of our time.
Gather at the Sydney Town Hall on 25 January for a cleansing ceremony, song and dance that will be led by Aboriginal Elders through the streets of Sydney.
French choreographer François Chaignaud and dramatist Nino Laisné present an opera-ballet love letter to centuries of Spanish culture in Romances Inciertos, un Autre Orlando; French stage and screen superstar Isabelle Adjani gives a searing portrayal of a performer on the brink in a radical re- staging of John Cassavetes’ cult classic Opening Night; while everyone is once again invited to gather fireside and participate in a smoking ceremony, and reflect on the resilience and beauty of Australia’s Indigenous heritage at special events, The Vigil and Procession.
Diverse events
Gather at 6pm at the Sydney Town Hall on 25 January where a cleansing ceremony, song and dance will be led by Aboriginal Elders through the streets of Sydney. At dusk, the Procession arrives at Barangaroo to start The Vigil, an overnight opportunity to come together, experience live performances by Indigenous artists, and reflect on who we are and how we got here as a country.
The magic of the Ronnie Burkett Theatre of Marionettes will be on show at Carriageworks in Sydney until 26 January.
At Barangaroo Reserve, 250 flags fly in Proclamation, a large-scale art installation exploring Australia’s diverse ideas about land and country, belonging and possession. Participants Australia-wide are invited to submit images online that reflect their precise or ephemeral ideas of, and connection to, land, country and belonging.
On 26 January, Sydney Harbour again hosts the annual ocean extravaganza, Ferrython, where audiences can join the race as a ticketed passenger aboard a ferry or bring a picnic and barrack for their favourite ferry from the shore.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore said: “Sydney Festival is one of the key events in our cultural calendar — it’s a time to celebrate summer’s great weather and long evenings with an incredible range of world-class artists and performers”.
The ambitious program of events will “surprise and delight in new, different and unexpected ways, whether through dance, theatre, music or cabaret”.
DETAILS BOX
Sydney Festival 2020
Until 26 January
W: www.sydneyfestival.org.au
