Sydney Festival flicks the switch to summer fun

Launching her debut festival program, director Olivia Ansell wants to help Sydneysiders rediscover their playful ‘Sydney side’.

Sydney Festival Director Olivia Ansell alongside Qween Lear star Minnie Cooper at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion. Picture: Jane Dempster

Festival director Olivia Ansell wants to put a glitter bomb under Sydney and reignite the city’s sense of fun and discovery when she launches her debut program in January.

From drag queens to musical theatre and events celebrating Sydney’s diverse communities, the 2022 Sydney Festival is about reconnecting artists and audiences after long periods of lockdown.

“We’re asking Sydneysiders to find your Sydney side – your glam side, your dark side, your curious side,” said Ansell, who announces details of the festival program on Wednesday.

“It’s really tapping into everyone’s feeling about the city. We’ve weathered the lockdown, but I’m convinced that the soul of the Sydneysider is still there, eclectic and fun-loving.”

The program encompasses theatre, music, dance, circus, exhibitions and events, including an acrobatic performance from a giant suspended ice block, a ballet for BMX bikes, and a floating meditation session with music at a harbourside pool.

The performing arts program includes the premiere of Bangarra Dance Theatre’s Wudjang: Not the Past, and the musical Girl From the North Country, set to songs by Bob Dylan.

In a reimagining of Sydney’s original open-mic venue, Speaker’s Corner, music artists from across all genres will take the stage at an outdoor location for 1100 people a night.

A performance-party called Qween Lear will relocate Shakespeare’s drama to the milieu of drag queens and Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in the 1990s.

Staged at the Hordern Pavilion, the show will feature drag queen Minnie Cooper as the matriarch who must decide whether to pass her crown to her “drag daughter”, Cordelia.

“It’s stepping back into a time when queer people partied together to stay safe,” Cooper said. “We’ve had gay marriage and more queer representation in the media – it’s spoken about, not hidden away. That’s a massive change in 20 years.”

The festival runs across Sydney from January 6-30, and Ansell said it had been difficult to plan given the uncertainty of the pandemic.

A native Sydneysider who was previously head of contemporary performance at the Sydney Opera House, said she was fascinated by the city’s history and vibrant communities.

“We want to restore culture safely to the city, making sure that we have a really great balance of work that is indoors and also outdoors at iconic locations,” she said.