Sydney Festival commenced its 2022 program on January 6, with over 100 events taking over many of the city’s theatres, parks, pools, streets, screens and galleries throughout the month.
But with Omicron cases surging and La Niña opening the heavens and cranking up the humidity, Sydney's 2022 is off to a precarious start to say the least. The festival’s organisers acknowledge that Covid-19 remains an ongoing challenge and have taken this into account in all of its festival planning. All events and festival venues are deploying Covid safety plans and implementing all mandatory Department of Health regulations, including compulsory face masks in indoor and outdoor settings, as well as audience check-ins.
Feel more comfortable attending open-air events? More than half of the program is taking place outside, including the return of the free Sydney Symphony Under the Stars event on January 23, and the stacked 22-night Speakers Corner concert series. (Some selected Speakers Corner shows will also be livestreamed, check here.) You can also explore outdoor art installations including the luminescent, towering spectacle, Airship Orchestra, down near Darling Harbour. Over at Barangaroo, Future Dreaming is a large-scale artwork by First Nations artist Jacob Nash, head designer at Bangarra Dance Theatre and Sydney Festival’s creative artist in residence. It serves as a place to gather, look to the past and demand the future. Or, take the kids for a bite with (almost) real live dinosaurs at Erth’s Prehistoric Picnic.
You can also get in on some of the action from home with livestreams and specially developed virtual events as part of the festival Digital Program, which is sure to be music to the ears of anyone stuck in isolation or playing it extra safe right now.
Thaw, a three-day-long endurance performance art piece, will be livestreamed in a ten-hour event perfect for slow TV lovers on Saturday January 15. This work features a 2.7-tonne hunk of ice suspended over Sydney Harbour as a lone performer scrambles to protect it. In an At Home exclusive, Human Voice: La Voix Humane is a cinematic opera and an adaptation of Francis Poulenc's monodrama in one act. Based on poet-artist Jean Cocteau's libretto of the same name, Human Voice charts the final and tormented telephone conversation between two soon-to-be ex-lovers – starring Opera Australia’s Lorina Gore. Check this page for ongoing additions of talks, musical performances and shows you can stream at home.
The festival has gone from a program of 152 events to 118 events, and things are changing rapidly. Yet more events may be cancelled or postponed at short notice, so if you’re planning to head out, always check ahead with venues and event organisers and keep an eye on your emails on the day if you have pre-booked tickets. And if you feel any Covid-like symptoms, please stay home, isolate and try to get your hands on a RAT test.
There are many more cultural events to explore around Sydney this month, under the Sydney Festival banner or otherwise. Check out our regularly updated lists of the best theatre to see this month and the best art exhibitions to see this month.