sydney

Day 1 | Tuesday 27 October
Arrival & Walsh Bay | The Unfriend
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 week’s performance program. We then enjoy a pre-show dinner at Restaurant Leo, just a short walk from our hotel, before transferring to Walsh Bay’s Roslyn Packer Theatre for STC’s The Unfriend. A darkly comic play about what happens when a polite middle-class couple’s holiday acquaintance dangerously overstays her welcome, The Unfriend sees Helen Thomson (Colin from Accounts) return to the stage to challenge everything you thought you knew about good manners. Directed by the legendary Simon Phillips (Priscilla: Queen of the Desert), the production marks the stage debut of Steven Moffat, the writer behind Doctor Who, Sherlock and Douglas Is Cancelled. Overnight Sydney (D)

Day 2 | AGNSW & Sydney Opera House | Strong Is The New Pretty & Open Rehearsal with Simone Young
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. From here, we enjoy a leisurely walk through the Royal Botanic Gardens, before arriving at the Sydney Opera House for the world premiere of Strong Is The New Pretty. Written by Suzie Miller, the celebrated Australian playwright behind RBG: Of Many, One and Prima Facie, this new work turns her extraordinary talents to the birth of the AFL Women’s league. With her signature blend of docudrama and insight, Miller reunites with the creative team behind Prima Facie and leads a dynamic ensemble cast featuring Sheridan Harbridge, Lucy Bell and Amy Ingram. There is time to return to our hotel to freshen up before we make our way back to Circular Quay for a pre-show dinner at one of the harbour’s fine restaurants. Afterwards, we take our seats in the Lower Circle of the Sydney Opera House’s Concert Hall as Chief Conductor Simone Young prepares the Orchestra, Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and a world-class cast of soloists to perform Mendelssohn’s powerful oratorio Elijah. This open rehearsal offers insight into the working life of a major orchestra. Overnight Sydney (B, D)

Day 3 | Thursday 29 October
Chau Chak Wing Museum | Girls & Boys
Today begins with a visit to the University of Sydney’s Chau Chak Wing Museum, a contemporary building that brings together the Nicholson, Macleay and University Art collections under one roof. Home to the largest assemblage of antiquities in the Southern Hemisphere, the museum offers a remarkable window onto world history, from the ancient Mediterranean and Near East to the scientific and cultural heritage of Australia and the Pacific. A specialist from the University’s Near Eastern Archaeology Foundation (NEAF) guides us through the galleries, providing insight and stories behind its most important objects. Returning to the CBD, we enjoy a farewell lunch at one of the city’s fine restaurants before an afternoon lecture back at our hotel. In the evening, we return to Walsh Bay for STC’s Girls & Boys, a searing contemporary monologue by British playwright Dennis Kelly. Performed by the incredible Justine Clarke (Julia) at the Wharf Theatre, the work begins as a sharp, witty account of modern love and ambition, before shifting with devastating force into an examination of violence, gender and the stories we tell ourselves to make sense of the world. Overnight Sydney (B, L)

Day 4 | Friday 30 October
Departure
The morning is at leisure for independent sightseeing or shopping before checking out of the hotel by 11.00am. (B)