sydney

Day 1 | Friday 17 April
Arrival & Sydney Opera House | The River
In the mid-afternoon, we gather in the elegant surrounds of the hotel’s lobby bar for welcome drinks, followed by a lecture introducing the weekend’s performance program. We then enjoy a pre-show dinner at Restaurant Leo, just a short walk from our hotel, before transferring to the Sydney Opera House. Here we take in The River in the intimate Drama Theatre. Written by Olivier and Tony Award-winning playwright Jez Butterworth, this quietly intense three-hander unfolds through a series of overlapping encounters between a man and two women at a remote riverside cabin, examining memory, desire and the stories people tell themselves. The production is directed by rising star Margaret Thanos, with Miranda Otto (The Lord of the Rings, Ladies in Black, A Doll’s House) returning to the Sydney Theatre Company stage. Overnight Sydney (D)

Day 2 | AGNSW & Kirribilli | Bette and Joan & An Iliad
This morning we visit the Art Gallery of New South Wales for a curator-led experience exploring Australian art and cultural narratives. Entering via Naala Badu, the Gallery’s striking new glass pavilion, our guided visit spans colonial-era works, key modernist pieces and significant Indigenous art, offering a considered overview of the evolving visual language of Australia. We then transfer to Kirribilli for lunch at Foys overlooking the harbour, before continuing to the Ensemble Theatre for a matinee performance of Anton Burge’s Bette and Joan. Set behind the scenes of the early 1960s Hollywood film Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, this sharp two-hander imagines an explosive encounter between screen icons Bette Davis (played by Jeanette Cronin) and Joan Crawford (Lucia Mastrantone), blending biting humour with insight into fame, ageing and rivalry. After returning to the hotel to freshen up, we head to Walsh Bay for Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare’s acclaimed adaptation of Homer’s Iliad. Directed by Damien Ryan and performed by award-winning actor David Wenham, the production centres on a single storyteller – the Poet – who has spent millennia moving through battlefields and ruined cities, retelling the epic of war and its consequences. As the performance unfolds, he confronts the burden of carrying this story and the possibility of finally laying it down. Overnight Sydney (B, L)

Day 3 | Sunday 19 April
Lavender Bay | My Brilliant Career
This morning we make our way to a former railway site overlooking Lavender Bay, now home to Wendy Whiteley’s Secret Garden – a secluded harbourside garden created by the artist over several decades. After time to explore the winding paths and enjoy views across the harbour towards the city skyline, we return to Walsh Bay and the Roslyn Packer Theatre for a new stage adaptation of Miles Franklin’s classic novel My Brilliant Career. In an all-singing, all-dancing cast of incredible actors, Kala Gare stars as Sybylla Melvyn – a fiercely intelligent young woman in 1890s Australia who resists the expectation that her future should be defined by marriage rather than ambition. Featuring a live soundtrack drawing on contemporary pop, bush-band folk and pub rock, this adaptation by Sheridan Harbridge, Dean Bryant and Mathew Frank is directed by Melbourne Theatre Company Artistic Director Anne-Louise Sarks and features stunning set and costume design by Olivier and Tony Award-winner Marg Horwell (The Picture of Dorian Gray). We conclude the day with a farewell dinner at the Two Hatted Eleven Barrack, where we enjoy a classic menu in one of Sydney’s most distinguished dining rooms. Overnight Sydney (B, D)

Day 4 | Monday 20 April
Departure
The morning is at leisure for independent sightseeing or shopping before checking out of the hotel by 11.00am. (B)