Sydney Festival hits out at French performers for pulling the plug over smoke hazards

Sydney Festival director Wesley Enoch. Picture: Sam Mooy

The Sydney Festival has been rocked two days before the start of its program with the cancellation of a French performance because of concerns over air quality.

Festival director Wesley Enoch made no secret of his frustration with the team behind Opening Night after announcing late on Monday their decision to pull the plug.

While most other artists have been busy making the opposite statement — the Sydney Festival is staging an appeal concert this Saturday night, and authors around the world are fundraising online with the Twitter handle #authorsforfireys — the bushfire crisis was blamed for the cancellation of the highly anticipated festival show.

“The arts community understands the importance of carrying on and also acknowledges the powerful role that art, culture and the act of coming together can play at a time like this,” Enoch said. “Unfortunately, despite our best efforts and assurances, the ­Opening Night team has chosen not to come.”

The move comes as promoters announced that Cold Chisel’s Rutherglen performance on Tuesday would be cancelled for safety reasons. The concert, A Day on the Green, was a winery show at All Saints Estate, near the Murray River in Victoria, featuring Cold Chisel, Birds of Tokyo and Magic Dirt.

After the air quality in the area was rated as “hazardous”, promoter Michael Newton said there was no other option but to cancel the show: “We have been on site for the past week preparing for the show, and sadly we have seen the air quality deteriorate to a level where we have been advised that it would not be safe to proceed,” he said. “We are also concerned about traffic, given the fires in the area. This is a really unfortunate situation. We do not cancel shows lightly, and we are devastated that we have had to cancel what would have been our first show for 2020.”

Also on Tuesday, the National Gallery of Australia announced it would reopen to visitors after two days of closure due to poor air quality.

A highlight of the Sydney Festival, Opening Night was to have starred Isabelle Adjani alongside Cyril Teste and Morgan Lloyd ­Sicard in Teste’s reimagining of John Cassavetes’s cult classic.

The show, not an outdoor event, had been scheduled to take place from January 21 to 26 in the Drama Theatre inside the Sydney Opera House.

The festival said all ticket holders would be refunded in full.

In a strong statement, Enoch hit out at the Opening Night producers and contrasted their decision with the actions of others in the festival looking to offer assistance.

“On behalf of the people of Sydney, we are extremely disappointed,” Enoch said. “We have been in constant communication with all international and Australian based companies in relation to any concerns arising from the current fire situation in NSW and we have been buoyed by their responses.

“Overwhelmingly, individual artists and companies — both local and from overseas — have responded by asking how they can help or what they can do to support relief efforts once they are on the ground in Sydney for the festival.”