The Best Sydney Events of 2021

From Sydney theatre gems Darlinghurst Theatre Company and Green Door Theatre Company, this stage show explores the connection between the online and IRL, as well as the role of the internet in societal inequality. “Racial gaslighting. Colourism. Homophobia. Online trolling. Cultural appropriation. Memes. This play leaves no stone unturned,” Green Floor Theatre Company Co-Creative Producer Bernedette Fam said when it first hit the stage.

Directed by Bardi and Jabirr Jabirr woman Shari Sebbens (Top End Wedding, The Sapphires), starring Vivienne Awosoga and Moreblessing Maturure, and supported by an all-female production team, Seven Methods of Killing Kylie Jenner follows an argument between two friends over the eponymous influencer and her supposed ‘self-made billionaire’ status. Exploring the commodification of Black women and exploitive nature of white capitalism, as well as the politics of social media activism, the production combines on-stage performances with gifs and memes. Plus, if you missed it the first time, the production in returning for a limited run at Darlinghurst Theatre Company early in 2022.

Image: Teniola Komolafe.

A music festival in a pandemic? It seemed too good to be true, but Wollongong’s annual two-day feast of live music Yours and Owls somehow pulled it off in April. In order to assist with social distancing, patrons were split into four sections, and while they were allowed to dance they had to maintain some space apart.

The lineup was the festival’s usual mix of just about every genre, with an all-Australian slant due to border closures. Highlight included DMA’s, PNAU, Haiku Hands, No Money Entertainment and B Wise, all of whom performed on one of two stages that rotated the musicians as they performed — granting all four sections equal opportunity to see the acts. On smaller side stages, local Sydney and Gong bands played in tents to smaller but equally enthusiastic crowds. It was a taste of normality and an opportunity for some of the country’s best musicians to finally jump back on a stage.

Image: Georgia Moloney.

After taking the world by storm when it hit Broadway in 2015, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s critically acclaimed musical Hamilton finally arrived Down Under for a nearly year-long run of shows at the Sydney Lyric Theatre — a lockdown break included — that’ll continue all the way through to February next year. If you’re somehow not across it, the record-breaking production, which nabbed 11 Tony Awards (including Best Musical), six Laurence Olivier Awards, a Grammy Award and a Pulitzer Prize, was inspired by Ron Chernow’s 2004 biography Alexander Hamilton.

The Aussie version continues the Broadway musical’s colour-blind approach to casting, enlisting BIPOC actors to play historical white figures — with the cast including Jason Arrow (Disney’s Aladdin, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) as Alexander Hamilton, Lyndon Watts (Disney’s Aladdin, West Side Story) as Aaron Burr and Chloé Zuel as Eliza Hamilton. With intimidatingly large shoes to fill, the local performers do a stellar job at bringing the show to Australia with the same energy and musicianship as the OG. If you’re heading along, make sure to read up before hand with our Bluffer’s Guide.

Image: Broadway. Courtesy of Destination NSW.

While Parramatta’s usual arts festival Parramatta Lanes was forced to cancel and move online, Parramatta Nights sprung up in its place. Finding that sweet spot between restrictions and lockdowns, the three-week festival included a heap of activities and activations for Parra locals and patrons from across Sydney.

The live music lineup took place on top of the Eat Street carpark, surrounded by the new fleet of high-rise buildings that have emerged in the second city. On the lineup: Briggs, Ruby Fields, Triple One and The Chats, all performing for just $10 alongside a pop-up bar and a food stall from Parramatta favourite Butter. Plus, free live jazz in Parramatta Square, an openair cinema showing La La Land and 10 Things I Hate About You as well as Bollywood hits Tanhaji and Street Dancer, a roller rink and carnival rides for the kids were also on the agenda.

Sydney Film Festival arrived just when we needed it. Following several postponements, the 12-day festival popped up in cinemas across Sydney just weeks after the city’s multi-month lockdown. Running from Wednesday, November 3–Sunday, November 14, it showcased 233 titles from small local films like western Sydney anthology Here Out West through to Hollywood blockbusters such as Dune and The French Dispatch.

It was an exciting return to the cinema for film buffs and movie casuals alike, who’d been stuck endlessly scrolling through Netflix from their couch for months. Whether you were on the hunt for crowdpleasers like Broadway-to-cinema adaptation Dear Evan Hansen and the Will Smith-led King Richard, or keen for more challenging watches in the form of 2021 Cannes Film Festival Palme d’Or winner Titane or Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s English-language debut Memoria, the festival firmly and vividly scratched that cinema-going itch.

Image: Memoria.

Sydney institution White Rabbit Gallery returned in 2021 with a series of boundary-pushing free exhibitions. Currently you can see Big in China, a reflection on how art breaks through and represents China, but earlier in the year, iridescent exhibition Lumen impressed gallery-goers.

Showcasing works from 30 artists, Lumen‘s lineup stretched from interactive light pieces and frozen copper sculptures to video projections. As well as grabbing attention, each work used light in a thought-provoking or wonderfully unique fashion. Running across all four levels of the gallery, the blockbuster showcase featured video portraits from the father of video art in China, Zhang Peili; a breathtaking room of LEDs from Art collective Luxury Logico; and copper tubes suspended in the shape of a heart and gradually frozen, creating a unique ice sculpture each day.

Image: Miniature by Luxury Logico.

Bangarra Dance Theatre returned to the stage with striking new work Sandsong: Stories from the Great Sandy Desert this year. Following the company’s immense run of outstanding performances and the far-reaching documentary about them, Firestarter — The Story of Bangarra, the new show was highly anticipated and lived up to the build-up.

Set in Walmajarri Country, which spans the Great Sandy Desert and Kimberley regions of Western Australia, this powerful performance explores the displacement and survival of First Nations people in this part of Australia, particularly between the 1920–60s. Choreographed by Artistic Director Stephen Page and Associate Artistic Director Frances Rings with consultation from Wangkajunga and Walmajarri Elders, the incredible work reaffirmed Bangarra’s place as one of the leading performing arts companies in the country.

Image: Daniel Boud.

Spanning across two weeks, 150 venues and four inner-city precincts, Sydney Solstice filled the city with a far-reaching array of pop-up events. Taking over Vivid’s usual wintertime spot, the festival of food, drink, music and art faced a few hiccups, with Sydney’s Delta outbreak causing some setbacks towards the end of the two weeks — but the event still provided Sydneysiders with a heap of after-work and weekend activities during the coldest weeks of winter.

Darling Harbour hosted a craft beer festival; a pop-up winter wonderland, complete with an ice-skating rink and an arctic ice slide; and night-time sea kayaking. Across the harbour, Heaps Gay took over Town Hall for The Queen’s Feast – A Last Supper for all the Senses — with chefs Sarah Tiong, Anna Polyviou, George Woodyard and Claire Van Vuren on the tools. The inner west held the inaugural Country and Inner Western music festival. And, FBi Radio transformed Golden Age Cinema and Bar for a live broadcast of its flagship electronic music program Sunsets. We may not have known it at the time, but it was a last hurrah before we all retreated back into lockdown.

Image: Declan Blackall Photography.