Dark Noon flips the script on the Wild West, envisioning American history as equal parts absurd, horrifying and deeply profound.

On a stage covered in the red dirt of the prairie, a pioneer town springs up in real time as an extraordinary cast of South African actors reimagines the story of the American frontier through an outsider’s lens. Directed by Danish visionary Tue Biering and South African co-director and choreographer Nhlanhla Mahlangu, Dark Noon challenges everything you thought you knew about the Wild West.

Through gunslinging cowboys, Native Americans, missionaries, enslaved Africans, Chinese workers and European settlers, it tears down Hollywood tropes with slapstick humour, breathtaking stagecraft and biting satire.

Fresh from five-star runs at New York’s St Ann’s Warehouse, Edinburgh Fringe Festival and Factory International, Dark Noon transforms Sydney Town Hall for a limited season, pulling audiences into a raw, immersive ride through history that confronts power, race and displacement.

A fearless and unmissable festival experience. 

Head to Sydney Town Hall before Dark Noon to enjoy a drink at the Sydney Festival Theatre Bar, brought to you by Doltone House. Bar opens one hour prior to the show.

★★★★★ "Extraordinary outsider vision of American history."

– The Guardian

★★★★★ "A truly staggering, relentless theatre experience."

– British Theatre Guide

★★★★ "Dark Noon is outrageously entertaining... the stagecraft is spectacular and the slapstick is delightfully silly."

– Time Out

Fancy a pre-show drink? Sydney Town Hall Theatre Bar, run by Doltone House, will be open prior to peformances.