Things to do in Melbourne in November

It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas here in Melbourne, and to help us ring in the festive season, the City of Melbourne has announced the return of its epic, month-long Christmas Festival. From November 25 to December 25, our city will come alive with family-friendly (and mostly free!) events that are sure to turn any Grinch into a believer.  This year, you can look forward to exciting attractions like a Christmas-themed roller-skating rink in Carlton's Argyle Square; a full-size maze filled with giant presents and interactive games in Docklands; sound and light shows nightly from 9pm at Christmas Square; and a festive line-up of flicks showing at the Capitol Theatre. You won't want to miss the inaugural Christmas River Show, which will illuminate Southbank every night, dazzling onlookers with water fountains, lasers, lights and projections set to a soundtrack of festive tunes. Howey Place will be transformed into Santa's Workshop where you can snap plenty of jolly pics, while the Christmas Carnival will return to the banks of the Yarra River with treats, rides and arcade-style games. The Christmas Quest and Treasure Hunt is also back (and there are plenty of prizes to be won), and there will be mesmerising projections illuminating buildings like Melbourne Town Hall and the State Library Victoria. And it wouldn't be the Christmas Festival without the return of the iconic 17.5 metre Christmas tree at Fed Square, so rest assured that it'll be lit up and on display.  Oh,

Update October 23, 2023: Woot! The full line-up of food vendors has just been announced. Scroll to the bottom of this article to see who'll be serving up your dumpling feasts when the market opens next month. Birrarung Marr will transform into a fragrant hawker-style market this November, providing Melburnians with the perfect opportunity to gather with friends outdoors, get amongst the bustle and most importantly – eat!  Across the sea of vendors that will set up shop over the 18-night foodie fest, visitors can expect truckloads of authentic Asian delicacies like skewers, zesty salads, loaded bao, oodles of noodles and, of course, dumplings. And lots of 'em, too.  All your faves will be in high supply, like xiao long bao, gyoza, won tons, xiu mai and loads more. The market promises to look after a range of tastes and dietary requirements so that all are welcome to partake in the festivities.  “I’ve enjoyed many delicious dumpling dinners over the years I lived in Melbourne and I can’t wait to contribute to that custom," says the market's program director Elena Kirschbaum. "We’re working hard to create an incredible food festival that will hopefully become a much-loved annual event and can’t wait for everyone to see what we have in store that’s sure to surprise and delight.” With clever cocktails and even a dedicated sake bar to wash all that spicy, salty, savoury goodness down, Downtown Dumpling Market is set to be one of the hottest foodie destinations in the city this spri

Remember the early noughties, when MySpace was still a thing and singers like Kylie Minogue, Natalie Imbruglia, and Robbie Williams ruled the airwaves? Well, it seems like 2022 is the latter pop heartthrob's comeback year. Back in April, Williams played two exclusive, sell-out shows at Rod Laver Arena for his upcoming biopic – and in 2023, he's back to play two more massive Melbourne shows. It has also been announced that the British singer-songwriter and former frontman of the Britpop band Supergrass Gaz Coombes – famous for hits like 'Walk The Walk', 'Don't Say its Over' and 'The Girl Who Fell to the Earth' – will join Robbie as a special guest on all Australian dates. Robbie Williams really needs no introduction, having cemented himself as one of the finest male pop stars of his generation and racked up more than 80 million album sales. And with the release of his new album XXV earlier this month, Williams is officially celebrating 25 years as a solo artist.  Hear his classics and new tracks live when he takes over AAMI Park from November 22 to 23, or journey to Geelong to see him play a Day on the Green at Mt Duneed Estate on November 25. General public tickets are on sale at the Frontier Touring website.  Keen on more live music? Check out our round-up of the best gigs happening in Melbourne this month.

If you had 30 minutes to spend with yourself surrounded by nothing but darkness and the rain, what would you do? This is something the Rain Room by luxe hotel Jackalope and London-based collective Random International wants us to consider. The exhibition has reopened its sliding doors for its third season and invites us to all take a moment for ourselves to practice mindfulness and embrace the present in the rain. For those who aren’t familiar with it, the Rain Room is an immersive artwork by Random International that fills the ceiling of a darkened room with motion sensors and little droplets of recycled water that imitate rain. The result? An experience that you can walk through slowly without getting a single drop of water on you, even though you’re surrounded by what feels like a storm. The experience stimulates your senses and if you’ve ever been caught in the rain in Southeast Asia, this evokes a similar feeling. It’s slightly warm as the sound of falling rain crescendos but if you walk an inch too quickly you’ll feel the sensation of getting tapped on the head by water.  ‘Rain Room’ is one of Random International’s most famous works and has previously been shown at the Barbican in London, MoMA in New York and at the Yuz Museum in Shanghai.  Also, a word to the wise: make sure not to wear heels or shoes that you will slip in or you might end up wearing a pair of Crocs that the team hands to you instead.   Rain Room will be open until the end of January, 2024. Book your

Can you believe it? It's almost that holly jolly time of year again, and all of the early Christmas news is making us want to set up our trees already – and start packing out our calendars with fun things to do ASAP. There's a ton of bangin' (and boozy) yuletide activities in the weeks ahead, but at the top of our list is this magical Christmas-themed bar coming to District Docklands on November 22.  Until December 30, the adults-only pop-up will immerse you in a holiday wonderland of end-of-the-year cheers, tinsel, glitter and an exciting program of merry-making activities to get you in the holiday spirit. Brought to you by the creators of The Wizard's Den and The Alice: An Immersive Cocktail Experience, this bar boasts halls that are more than decked, with a sleigh load of baubles, trees, bows, wreaths and all manner of festive paraphernalia filling every nook and cranny. It’s like a Christmas store threw up on a bar – and with themed cocktails, seasonal tunes, bites to eat and appearances from Santa and his elves to boot, it would be hard to leave this twinkling den without feeling at least a touch wistful.  You'll be able to get boozy on seriously Christmassy cocktails – with mocktails also on offer if you want a head start on your New Year's health resolutions. If you're wanting to bring the kids and make it a whole family affair, under 18 sessions will be made available soon. Stay tuned for when they're announced.  Tickets are required to enter and can be purchased here

Picture this: a balmy summer night spent filling your belly and quenching your thirst from a selection of global street food stalls, carts, trucks and festival bars. If that sounds right up your alley, then mark November 22 in your calendar, because that's when the Queen Vic Market's much-loved Summer Night Market returns.  This year, more than 100 shops, stalls and bars will light up the open-air market sheds across a bumper 16-week season. Highlights include the famed chocolate covered strawberries from It's Off Tap, That’s Amore Cheese launching their indulgent new 'Mozzaburgers’, hearty dishes from Nepal Dining Room, Filipino feasts from Hoy Pinoy and delicious serves of Aussie dessert fave, pavlova – with topping choices!  When you get thirsty, head to the Happiness is Mojito bar for refreshing mojitos in loads of different fruity flavours or chill out in the Brick Lane Beer Garden and soak up the sun with an ice cold Lagerita or alcoholic Ginger Beer Slushie in hand. As always, you can expect roving performers and a rotating line-up of homegrown talent playing live music on the market's main stage. After sipping and snacking, be sure to explore the dozens of stalls selling locally-sourced and handmade products including jewellery, art, skincare, books and homewares.  The first four weeks of the market will be a festive wonderland to spread the holiday season cheer, with a Christmas tree forest, a roving Santa Claus, festive entertainment including carollers and of cours

On the same day Julia Fox strutted through the streets wearing a corset emblazoned with a young Princess Diana (see the iconic picture here if you haven't already), an exhibition all about the people's princess was announced to be making its Australian debut in Melbourne. Hot on the regal heels of sold-out tours in Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto and Puerto Rico, it's now Melbourne's turn to spotlight Princess Diana's life, showcasing her version of events as told through the lens of her official royal photographer, Anwar Hussein.  Princess Diana: Accredited Access Exhibition will delve into the intimate relationship between a princess and a photographer, uncovering all sides of Diana. Accredited by the royal family, Anwar Hussein is famed for capturing the shifting perceptions of the Windsors through work that focuses on capturing the humanity of these aloof figures. His sons, Samir and Zak, have followed in their father's footsteps and won awards for their photographs of Diana's sons, Prince William and Prince Harry. Themes for the exhibition include The Photography Dark Room, Growing, Glam, Hats and Tiaras, Art Installations and Humanitarian and Unguarded. You can expect the showcase to whisk you on a journey with first-hand narration and images that transport you to a time and place where the people's princess reigned supreme.  Princess Diana: Accredited Access Exhibition opens to the general public on Friday, November 17, at the Tea House, 28 Clarendon Street, Southbank.

Dickens' A Christmas Carol is returning to the Melbourne stage. Set for a pre-Christmas season from November 12 to January 7, the smash hit staging of the timeless holiday story will be playing at the Comedy Theatre.  A Christmas Carol was the most-awarded play of 2021, sweeping the Tonys with five award wins. Two Tony Award winners themselves created the magical rendition: director Matthew Warchus (Matilda the Musical) and playwright Jack Thorne (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child). The production delivers striking staging, moving storytelling and 12 traditional Christmas carols, including ‘Joy to the World’ and ‘Silent Night’. The cast announced for 2023 includes Game of Thrones' Owen Teale as Scrooge, Aisha Aidara as Little Fan, Grant Piro as Fezziwig, Deirdre Khoo as Jess and Kaya Byrne as Nicholas. The performers will join the previously announced cast members of Debra Lawrence (Ghost of Christmas Past), Bernard Curry (Bob Cratchit), Sarah Morrison (Belle), Samantha Morley (Ghost of Christmas Present), Anthony Harkin (Marley), Andrew Coshan (Fred) and Stephanie Lambourn (Mrs Cratchit). A Christmas Carol will run between November 12 and January 7. Tickets are from $49.50, and you can get them on the website here. Read our five-star review of the 2022 production here: It’s been nearly two centuries since Charles Dickens wrote his famous ghost story, A Christmas Carol, and in that time the play has become synonymous with the holiday season. We’ve been treated to a number of

Since its original West End run, when the now unspeakable yellowface casting of Jonathan Pryce as a Vietnamese pimp marred its otherwise blockbuster success, Miss Saigon has felt problematic, even a little off. An adaptation of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly – itself the subject of colonial revisionist criticism – it has never quite shaken free of controversy. Some of the show’s offences were mitigated by judicious casting, so that Vietnamese actors finally got to play themselves on stage. But others linger or haunt the work in ways more difficult to articulate. The story – American soldier and Vietnamese bargirl fall in love but are separated by the fall of Saigon – has remained the same, as has the lushly romantic score. But since its debut, a lot of work has been done on the lyrics, which in the original production leaned heavily on the crassness and posturing self-regard of US military jargon. It’s a more culturally sensitive work as a result, even if the outline of American imperialism is still visible underneath. The problem, though, stems not from Miss Saigon’s cosmetic Americanisms but from something deeper, something that can’t be changed. The show was written by Frenchmen Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, riding high after the undeniable triumph of Les Miserables. Vietnam’s relationship with America is tricky, certainly, but its relationship with France – the original, brutal colonisers of that country – is positively toxic. Perhaps the rot set in before a sing

We're just as sad as you are that cherry blossom season is over, but the good news is that it heralds the start of the cherry-picking season. And if you can't get enough of those sweet and juicy red morsels, then make your way to CherryHill Orchards this summer to pick and eat as many cherries as your heart desires. This year, the cherry-picking season will kick off on November 8 at CherryHill's 40-hectare orchard in Coldstream. Then, on November 27, CherryHill's original orchard in Wandin East will also open its gates to eager pickers.  Sessions last for two hours, and cherries are charged per kilogram – trust us when we say these are some of the largest, sweetest cherries going around. And the fun doesn't stop at picking cherries; the orchard will host on-site food trucks and stalls hawking food and cherry-flavoured products. On top of the famed cherry ice cream, you can also shop pantry goods like cherry vinaigrette, cherry syrup, cherry barbecue sauce and cherry glaze. You can also bring your own picnic, or pre-order a box of goodies to enjoy on the orchard grounds. The sweet specialists at Mary Eats Cake have created three different-sized packs featuring treats like shakshuka quiche, cherry delight doughnuts and a selection of cheeses. And if you visit on a weekend or public holidays, you'll be treated to the sweet sounds of live tunes performed by a rotating line-up of local musos. The cherry-picking festival will run from November 8 to late December at the Coldstream o