The Concrete Playground Hot List
The very best of what's happening in Sydney this week.
So the blissful four-day weekend recently sparkling ahead of us has gone, and we sit at our desks with few keepsakes of the experience besides a dramatic sugar crash. My sympathies, friends. It's a particular downer of a week here at Concrete Playground, where we're saying goodbye to long-serving editor-in-chief Anna Harrison, who's been our beacon of how to live in Sydney with unshakable style. She's now off playing correspondent from the capital of cool (New York, obviously), so while you'll still be hearing from her, you'll also be hearing more from the team of editors who paddle furiously together to keep this ship afloat.
This week we bring you stacks of handpicked stories and happenings. You can watch football that floats in Darling Harbour, an opera based on Kafka and not a hint of romance, the premiere of Never Not Funny indie comedy night at the Standard, art after dark at both the MCA and MLC Centre, a film where Sean Penn is an adorable ageing goth-punk, and an artist with a niquab that can fit a whole crowd beneath it. My personal gold star goes to STC's smart and solid Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Go forth and snap us those last few tickets.
Trampoline
The details: Sunday, April 15 @ Oxford Street Design Store
This self-organising event aims to address things that are appealing across a range of disciplines, with past topics ranging from intergenerational learning to wine tasting, 3D printers and, incidentally, the 1000-year-old human.
Nothing is locked in on Trampoline and nothing is given priority, with the only requirement being that each session is 20 minutes long and focuses on sharing something that the presenter finds amazing. It also takes place out the back of the Oxford Street Design Store, so if you’re stuck for ideas you can pick up something fascinating for less than $20 on your way in. Find out more
Les Liaisons Dangereuses
The details: Thursday, April 5 - Saturday, June 9 @ Wharf 1, Wharf Theatre
Hugo Weaving and Pamela Rabe shine in a play that has the ability to grip and shock in a way Gossip Girl could only dream of. Find out more
American Pie: Reunion
The details: Thursday, April 5 - Wednesday, May 2 @ Various cinemas
The entire original cast return in a very, very unlikely triumph. Find out more
Christian Marclay: The Clock
The details: Thursday, March 29 - Sunday, June 3 @ Museum of Contemporary Art
We visit the MCA at 2am for an extraordinary spot of clock-watching. Find out more
Lyrebird
The details: Wednesday, March 28 - Saturday, April 21 @ Old Fitzroy Theatre
Inspired by the Black Saturday bushfires, this play brings five displaced, haunted lives into a burned-out Old Fitz. Find out more
Cabinet
The details: Saturday, April 14 @ Red Rattler
The lovely people from Underbelly Arts and Red Rattler bring you things to treat your eyes, ears and dancing shoes. Find out more
The George Melies Project
The details: Sunday, April 15 @ Riverside Theatres
The 'HG Wells of the jazz world' meets the magician behind early cinema. Find out more
An Evening with Richard Dawkins
Monday, April 16 @ Sydney Opera House
The militant atheist tries to tread lightly on his favourite topic: evolution. Find out more