While there’s plenty on offer for the adults-only crowd at Sydney Festival, the program also boasts a feast of options for family fun. As school holidays kick into high gear, you’ll find all sorts of extracurricular entertainment around town, from giant art installations to all-inclusive theatre shows.
As well as ticketed shows, there’s a host of free events out and about that the whole family can get behind. So whether you’re looking to please a little one or a discerning teen, these handpicked events will fit the bill.
Physical comedy and circus antics
For breathless excitement and some belly laughs, look no further than the ‘let’s get physical’ portion of the Festival line-up.
For a dose of royally funny physical theatre, check out Thom Monckton’s inventive one-man show, The King of Taking, about a childish and petulant king who can only tread upon red carpet and only move to the sound of fanfare. Naturally, hijinks ensue.
Camp Culture is a join-in-the-fun circus show full of games and activities for any age, led by ‘Faboriginal’ circus performer Dale Woodbridge-Brown (aka, the Kamilaroi Cowboy).
World-travelling puppetry
Two shows stand out for young connoisseurs of world-class puppetry and storytelling.
Devised and performed by Indonesia’s renowned Papermoon Puppet Theatre, A Bucket of Beetles is a work grounded in Indonesia’s centuries-old traditions of puppetry. Making its Australian debut at the Festival, the show is based on a story told by a four-year-old boy (whose drawings also informed the animal puppet designs), so kids will find plenty to get lost in.
Meanwhile, Sugung-ga: The Other Side of the World is a charming turtle and hare fable from South Korea that’s perfect for the over-fives in your family. Combining Czech puppetry, traditional Korean pansori storytelling, live cello music and a wicked sense of humour, it’s a heady brew unlike anything else in the line-up.
Free fun (and deep feelings) in the open air
This summer the Festival will once again celebrate Sydney’s natural beauty with a selection of outdoor happenings that won’t cost you a cent.
The budding Zoolanders in your family will want to make a beeline for the House of Fast Fashun at Tumbalong Park, a workshop-performance hybrid in which you’re invited to create the unique fashion statement of your dreams from old clothes and textile waste.
Finally, for the aquatically-inclined, there’s the majestic floating sculpture Te Wheke-a-Muturangi by acclaimed Māori artist Lisa Reihana, which is spreading its arms across Watermans Cove all Festival long.
Mini-festivals for all ages
