Things to do in Sydney today

For a few special days every year, Sydney comes alive with writers, journalists, public intellectuals and book lovers – who gather for the Emerald City’s long-standing celebration of literature, reading and ideas: the Sydney Writers' Festival. This year marks the 27th anniversary of our city’s most beloved celebration of words, and the festival’s 2024 theme is Take Me Away – a theme that reflects our universal affinity for escapism, a role that literature has always played in society. Comprising 223 free and ticketed events, this year’s program is a pretty impressive one.  The urban corner of Sydney that’s home to the spectacular space that is Carriageworks will act as the hub for this year’s festival, but events will be popping up across the city: including at Sydney Town Hall, City Recital Hall and The State Library of NSW, as well as at smaller venues across Greater Sydney and the nation through the Live & Local streaming program. Keen to get involved? Read on.For the 2024 program, almost 300 writers from all over Australia and the world will come together to share stories and interrogate ideas, all around the central theme of Take Me Away. A celebration of Australian thought-leaders, 263 of the speakers on this year’s program are Australian, with 35 international speakers joining them on stages across the city.  Highlights from this year’s program will include a live podcast recording with London-based author and podcaster Katy Hessell, a behind-the-scenes look into the m

The weather may be getting cooler, but forget about staying at home. Shell House – Sydney’s second favourite house after the one with white sails – is throwing a two-month party celebrating good food, great music, incredible art and even better times. Called 'Our House,' the event is styled as a love letter to Sydney at the multi-level drinking and dining destination, and it’s got your name on it. Brett Robinson, owner and restaurateur of Shell House said: “Our House is a deeply curated festival of collaboration between our team and the valued, talented, and respected friends in our orbit. “Our House brings together the world’s finest visual artists, musical performers, culinary innovators, winemakers, industry icons and product kings and queens into a two-month-long feast for the senses presented in the place we call home – Shell House.” The line-up is packed with flash dinners, special performances and a whole lot of Champagne-fueled fun (our personal favourite). Starting with the food and beverage program, 'Wet, Cold, and Delicious' spans two events. There’s a dinner exploring Tasmania’s wonderful sea creatures, and a deep dive into tuna with chef Toshihiko Oe from Sushi Oe and Narito Ishii from Sydney Fish Markets, followed by a five-course fresh dinner curated by culinary director Joel Bickford and head chef Brad Guest. 'Prime Time: The Ultimate Beef Dinner' is for all the carnivores among us. Bickford will team up with the king of meat, Anthony Puharich from Vic’s Meats

What’s in a name? Quite a lot, if you’re the first named character in the title of a play. Particularly when almost every other legend written about you has you named second, or not at all. This is the plight of Isolde, an Irish princess, star of many stories, but most notably Wagner’s influential opera Tristan und Isolde. Her legend is centuries old, one of the most famous involving a love potion – and now, Sport for Jove brings it to the beloved basement stage at the Old Fitz Theatre in the form of a play written (and crucially, named Isolde and Tristan) by German playwright Esther Vilar, and translated by Udo Borgert and Laura Ginters. The original legend features Tristan, a prince of Cornwall, and Isolde, the princess of Ireland, whose countries are at war. After Tristan defeats the Irish giant Morholt (the Irish King’s brother-in-law) he is tasked with traveling to Ireland to bring Isolde back to marry his uncle, the King of Cornwall. However on the journey, Tristan and Isolde fall madly into forbidden love, thanks to a love potion. Deception, punishment, and death ensue.  Vilar’s play not only switches the names, but also some of the details, and turns the legend from a sweeping and dramatic warning against being “consumed” by love into something pointier, and more complex. It’s certainly not your regular medieval romance, or even your regular opera… clever, biting, and appropriately eerie. Damien Ryan (Artistic Director of Sport for Jove) directs this production, setti

The Harbour City does a good line in immersive light experiences, and if you can’t wait until Vivid takes over the city later in May, Luna Park is here to help. The iconic attraction’s newest installation – Sonic Neon – is now open, with tickets on sale until the end of June. Housed in Crystal Palace – a building which dates all the way back to 1935 – Sonic Neon will take visitors on a journey through eight different rooms, with state-of-the-art visuals and a layered soundscape creating a transportive experience. Illuminating more than 150 metres of the historic building, the experience will feature more than 26,000 lights set to a pulsating soundtrack using state-of-the-art technology that’s never been used before in Australia. Tickets to the experience are available now, which you can purchase online or in person. Plus, save money by purchasing bundles like the Lunaverse Superpass, which includes Sonic Neon, Dream Circus and unlimited rides.  The family-friendly rave and experience will run daily from 10am. Tickets for the self-guided Sonic Neon experience (estimated to take around 30 minutes) start at $29 per person. If you’re keen to secure your tickets, you can do so over here.  Stay in the loop: sign up for our free Time Out Sydney newsletter for more things to do, travel inspo and activity ideas, straight to your inbox. RECOMMENDED: Keen for more luminous fun? This immersive experience is coming to the Blue Mountains Lightscape will be taking over the Botanical Gardens

Gerture and Abalone are agoraphobic. Left to their own devices after the tragic death of their parents in a tree pruning accident, they prepare to win something called ‘the eisteddfod’ with the performance of a lifetime: Macbeth. As the siblings’ stark reality coalesces with the darkly playful world of their imaginations, Lally Katz’s beloved black comedy The Eisteddfod makes it almost impossible to discern which is which. Realised by an award-winning creative team and performed by two of Sydney’s sparkliest up-and-comers as part of the new Late Night Program at the Old Fitz Theatre (May 21-31), this play is a weird and wacky homage to stories – to those that tell them, hear them, and need them to survive. Twenty years after it was first staged in Australia, this show is as intriguing as ever.  Co-directed by Miranda Middleton (associate director at Ensemble Theatre) and Jess Bell (who just appeared in The Swell at Old Fitz), The Eisteddfod stars Ziggy Resnick (Feminazi at Belvoir 25A, A is for Apple at Griffin) and Fraser Crane (Dumb Kids at KXT on Broadway). “It is a darkly comic, gut wrenching and nuanced homage to stories, the people that hear them, make them, and need them to survive,” says Resnick, who is also co-producer. “This show talks to the very core of why do we exist? Why do we choose to exist? It is a universal story told in a theatrical, magical, darkly comic form.” Clocking in at just under an hour, this one-act show is an ideal work of contemporary theatre f