SYDNEY FESTIVAL

The tour starts at 5.00pm on Wednesday 15 January, at The Fullerton Hotel, Sydney.

The tour ends after breakfast on Saturday 18 January, at The Fullerton Hotel, Sydney.

Meeting in the hotel lobby in the late afternoon, we first enjoy an introductory lecture from Peter, accompanied by a glass of wine or bubbles. After time to freshen up and grab a bite to eat, we then take a tram to Sydney’s Town Hall for the Australian premiere of Dark Noon. With slapstick humour, satire and breathtaking stagecraft, this breakout hit of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and New York’s St. Ann’s Warehouse transforms the Town Hall. On a stage covered in the red dirt of the prairie, a pioneer town springs up in real time as an extraordinary cast of South African actors reimagines the story of the American frontier through an outsider’s lens. Directed by Danish visionary Tue Biering and South African co-director and choreographer Nhlanhla Mahlangu, Dark Noon challenges everything you thought you knew about the Wild West. Overnight Sydney

Performance I
Venue: Sydney Town Hall
Program: Dark Noon

This morning we embark on a heritage walking tour through the city in the company of Brad Manera – Senior Historian and Curator at Sydney’s Anzac Memorial. Our tour takes us through Martin Place to St James’ Church, referred to by Dr Craig Wilcox in Redcoat Dreaming as Australia’s first war memorial. Crossing the road, we walk past the Hyde Park Barracks and The Rum Hospital (now The Mint), concluding our tour at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Here we take a private guided tour through the Gallery’s new exhibition, Magritte – an in-depth retrospective featuring more than 100 works from this iconic surrealist – followed by lunch at the Gallery’s restaurant Crafted by Matt Moran. The afternoon is set aside to take in more of the Festival or enjoy the Gallery at your leisure. We reconvene at our hotel in the early evening as the neon lights of Vegas call out from Walsh Bay’s Wharf Theatre, where we enjoy a tale of fame, fortune and danger, Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera, discovering how two boys raised in war-torn Germany became the highest-paid magic act Vegas had ever seen. Stepping into the spotlight are Helpmann Award-winning tenor Kanen Breen (Opera Australia’s Hamlet) as tiger-wrangling Roy, and acclaimed baritone Christopher Tonkin as illusionist Siegfried. After the show, we have the opportunity to join the exclusive VIP party with the artists at Wharf Theatre’s Moonshine Bar. Overnight Sydney (B, L)

Performance II
Venue: Wharf Theatre 1, Walsh Bay
Program: Siegfried & Roy: The Unauthorised Opera

We begin our day with a lecture from Peter, followed by a visit to the University of Sydney’s Chau Chak Wing Museum. Designed to bring the Nicholson, the Macleay and the University’s art collection all under one roof, this magnificent modern six-story building now holds the largest collection of antiquities in the Southern Hemisphere. A member of the University’s Near Eastern Archaeology Foundation (NEAF) will guide us through the exhibition space. The afternoon is then set aside to enjoy more of the Sydney Festival. Tonight sees us head to the Darlinghurst Courthouse for a special evening as we witness one of Sydney’s most sensational murder trials held there, The Shirley Beiger Story. As we enter the public galleries just as they did back in 1954, playwright Melanie Tait recreates old Sydney in this new immersive work which combines the original trial dialogue with a sharply drawn portrayal of a model who shot and killed her lover outside of a nightclub. Was Shirley guilty or innocent? You be the judge... Overnight Sydney (B)

Performance III
Venue: Darlinghurst Courthouse
Program: A Model Murder: The Shirley Beiger Story

The tour concludes after breakfast this morning. You may wish to enjoy more of the Sydney Festival today before departing. (B)