Sydney Theatre Company 2017 Preview

cover image courtesy of Headlong – 1984

words by O.K. Glynn

When it comes to planning out the year, it’s nice to give yourself the time to bask in nature, to spend up big in the halls of our greatest shopping avenues, and to maybe get away on a feisty little adventure out of the city walls – but there is one area of your life you have to be sure not to neglect – art and culture. Sydney offers up some of the most incredible artistic fairs for you to feast your creativity in, and one of the greatest ways to do this is to lose yourself in the magic of story-telling. Sydney Theatre Co. has released it’s 2017 line-up and it’s looking like a delectable array of everything you could possibly dream of.

“We’re going to drive for a bit. See what we find.” #STCAway Photo by @jamestgreen with Liam Nunan and Naomi Rukavina

A post shared by Sydney Theatre Company (@sydneytheatreco) on Dec 18, 2016 at 11:22am PST

With a year planned around 15 plays and one musical, you will have so very much to choose from. As is the tradition at STC, they are show-casing some brand-spanking new plays, some traditional, some Australian and some international extravaganzas that have been re-worked, re-imagined and re-told through the creative genius of each outstanding director. If you’re more inclined for a barrel-of-laughs, check out The Popular Mechanicals directed by STC resident Sarah Giles – a riot over 135 minutes at the Wharf 2 theatre from 10th of April to the 13th of May, this play follows some of Shakespeare’s greatest comic characters, led by none other than Bottom of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The endearing ensemble is followed as they attempt to put together a play, show casing the absolute ridiculous adventures that play out behind the wings.

If you’re feeling something a little darker, strap yourself in for the stage adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984. We all know the story of this frighteningly simple dystopian future as our own society hurtles toward an existence not too far from his imaginings, and you can be absolutely sure directors Robert Icke and Duncan Macmillan will transform the Roslyn Packer Theatre into a chilling representation of our day-to-day, holding up a mirror to our lives and what it is we’ve steeped our future toward. Running from June 30 to July 22, make sure you book in early – the Australian tour will kick off and it will be mighty hard to secure your spot!