Things to do in Sydney this week

Australia’s leading annual photography event is back for its 14th edition, with a record 110 exhibition locations featuring more than 700 photographers. You can catch an eye full for yourself as it lights up various places in Sydney from November 10, through to December 3.  Just like in previous years, you can explore outdoor exhibitions in the beautiful, subterranean Paddington Reservoir Gardens, as well as along the beautiful Bondi Beach Promenade – where Head On is taking up an increased physical footprint, packed with more works than ever before. There is also a multitude of eclectic indoor photography showings at the Muse in TAFE Ultimo and other venues.  With emerging and professional photographers from across the globe taking part, you can expect Head On's selections to reflect the biggest global issues that have had our attention over the last 12 months. There are five exhibits that capture life in Ukraine, including American photographer and veteran Gary Ramage’s 'The Consequences of War', and Italian-born photojournalist Diego Fedele’s 'East of the Dnipro River', both picturing the heartbreaking aftermath of Russia’s invasion.  Among the global highlights there's the incredible 'Lonka project', showcasing 455 individual portraits of Holocaust survivors decades on from World War Two; along with American lifestyle photographer Barbara Peacock’s unfiltered 'American Bedroom', capturing what goes on behind the doors of American dwellings, paired with poetic statements f

In 1901, the word ‘bondmaid’ was found to be missing from the Oxford English Dictionary. A century later, this simple oversight catalysed an epiphany in the formation of the theatrical debut of The Dictionary of Lost Words. Directed by Jessica Arthur and adapted for the stage by Verity Laughton, this play based on Pip William’s bestselling novel is an astounding performance set during the seismic events of the late 19th and early 20th century, at the height of the women’s suffrage movement and the dawn of World War I.   The play begins with protagonist Esme Nicoll (played by Tilda Cobham-Hervey) observing her father, the lexicographer Harry Nicoll (Brett Archer) from beneath his desk as he is researching and curating the first Oxford English Dictionary. In what can only be described as the first vibrations of a ripple effect, a slip of paper with the word and definition of ‘bondmaid’ (a "slave girl") falls onto the floor, where a five-year-old Esme innocently watches her father and his colleagues work. This moment reverberates into Esme’s interest in the compilation of ‘lost words’ – those words discarded, forgotten and considered not worthy enough for the Oxford dictionary. (And why is it, that so many of those words that fell through the cracks have something to do with women?) Laughton’s script exceptionally translates the novel to stage…allow[ing] for greater emotional investment The Drama Theatre at the Sydney Opera House is transformed into the scriptorium of Oxford for

If you’ve ever wanted to submerge yourself in another (considerably more frightening) world of plane crashes and ghostly séances, look no further. The terrifyingly brilliant alt-universe of Darkfield is making a grandiose return to Sydney with two new multi-sensory experiences – and boy, are we shivering in our wee little boots already.  A record-breaking 32,000 people flocked to the sell-out season of Darkfield earlier this year. So, a comeback made sense, this time with two wild new experiences – Coma and Euology – and at the brand new location of Harbour Park in Barangaroo from November 23, 2023, to January 21, 2024. Darkfield is an experience that straddles technology, theatre and horror movies, with punters made to sit inside a pop-up shipping container in total darkness while an immersive audio experience (through headphones, shall we add) takes them far, far away to a scary someplace else. Séance and Flight were the original spine-tingling experiences that Sydneysiders had the chance to experience, and each of them brought their own brands of eeriness for those willing to take the ride. They’ll both return for this upcoming season of Darkfield, along with the Sydney premiere of UK-based creative directors Glen Neath and David Rosenberg’s newest experiences, Coma and Eulogy. What is Coma at Darkfield? What if the sleep clocks were reversed and the moment you wake up is when your actual dream begins? That’s the type of out-of-body experience waiting for you in Coma. Don’

When it comes to over-the-top displays of Chrissy lights, the Hunter Valley Gardens really takes the pudding. Every year, the well-manicured greenery of these parklands is bejewelled with some four million glittering lights, along with old-school rides, festive food and kids' entertainment. You’d have to be a real grinch not to be charmed by the Southern Hemisphere's largest light show. This year’s spectacular will twinkle to life with a colourful 35-metre long superslide, spinning teacups, a 25-metre high ferris wheel and a traditional Venetian carousel. There will also be plenty of new photo opportunities in 2023, including a colourful candy cane tunnel, twinkly tree trail and giant Santa’s arch. Christmas ain't Christmas without Mr and Mrs Claus, and this festival is no exception. Kids will be able to snap a picture with Santa, pose next to a 14-metre tall Christmas tree, and enjoy energetic weekend shows featuring Christmas characters, comedy, magic and stunts. There will also be a breathtaking fireworks display that will light up the sky on New Year’s Eve at 9pm. All the fan favourites from previous years will be at the Gardens too, spread over eight hectares of interactive displays. Dream no longer of a white Christmas by exploring the snowy display filled with arctic animals and frost-capped trees, get sweet at Candyland and frolic through the 12 days of Christmas LED display.  While they're certainly the main event, there’s more than just lights on offer. There are al

To paraphrase a line in Oil: “as soon as mankind had the audacity to dream it could keep itself warm when the sun went down, we were at war”. The Earth became an extractive commodity to be fought over; abstract lines sprung up into nation-states; division, jealousy and greed became society’s ever-burning fuel. Colonialism, empire, capitalism, modernity: the same basic impulse to escape cold and darkness rules them all.  In pioneering British playwright Ella Hickson’s ambitious modern play, it also rules a wilful (and often problematic) mother’s love. A time-bending, continent-hopping, multi-layered sci-fi epic and mother-daughter drama, Oil transports (by magical stretch of the imagination) her two main characters from the Industrial Age in Europe when crude oil was discovered, to the oil-rich Middle East at the turn of the century, to nondescript suburbia, and into the future. In each time period, the scene is some manner of dining room, which rests upon a vast mound of blackened soot (Emma White does a brilliant set). Paul Jackson’s lighting is crucial to our perception of what’s going on, and it is fantastic – moving us through greasy pools of waxy candlelight, to thrusting candelabras of boastful brightness, to rainbow fanfares, and to bleached and glaring whites.  ...the grim yet always entertaining adage of Oil has left me in a dark pool of reflection. STC has achieved a commendable feat. Directed with maturity and panache by Paige Rattray (The Lifespan of a Fact, Blith

Calling all amateur Egyptologists, history buffs and lovers of gold and glamour – a blockbuster exhibition packed out with priceless Ancient Egyptian artefacts is coming exclusively to Sydney this summer. Opening from Saturday, November 18, at the recently refurbed Australian Museum in Sydney, Ramses & the Gold of the Pharaohs is an interactive museum experience more than 3,000 years in the making, featuring 181 priceless artefacts. It is the largest cultural exhibition to visit Australia in more than a decade, and in a huge coup, the Museum shipped over the actual coffin of Ramses the Great for it. Time Out got a sneak peek at the exhibition and sussed out the top three highlights of Ramses & the Gold of the Pharaohs. You can also check out our First Look video. The secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities and renowned archaeologist, Dr Mostafa Waziry, flew to Sydney to launch Ramses at the Australian Museum. You may have seen him appear in television specials and documentaries, including Netflix’s recent doco Unknown: The Lost Pyramid. Time Out’s Alannah Le Cross was there to get the scoop on what’s in store with the exhibition, and be regaled by Dr Waziry’s stories from expeditions and his passion for Egyptian history. Dr Waziry said that about 60 per cent of Egypt’s treasures are as yet undiscovered, and revealed the four artefacts he would like to see returned to Egypt (one of them is the Rosetta Stone, which currently resides at the British Museum).

Calling all grown-up emo Millennials! If you’ve sworn off buying concert tickets for the foreseeable future, you might be about to make this ‘The Only Exception’. But this doesn’t spell ‘Misery Business’, especially if you’ve got a ‘Crushcrushcrush’ on Paramore.  The Grammy Award-winning US trio – Hayley Williams, Zac Farro and Taylor York – will touch down in Australia and New Zealand this November, following their most recent visit in 2018 when they played sold-out East Coast dates. Did someone say Riot?! After all this time, we’re ‘Still Into You’.  Currently taking their mammoth live show across North America, Paramore has had a whirlwind start to 2023: they embarked on a South American tour in March, joined Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour for two nights in Arizona, played two sold-out Madison Square Garden shows in June, and last week they achieved a career high, blowing crowds away at Bonnaroo with Hayley Williams jumping on stage with the Foo Fighters for a surprise rendition of ‘My Hero’. The band’s highly anticipated sixth studio album This Is Why was released in February to incredible support from fans and critics alike, topping charts in Australia and the UK. Joined by special guest Remi Wolf, Paramore will head through Auckland, Brisbane and Melbourne before landing at Sydney’s Domain on Saturday, November 25, performing to a GA audience (ages 16+) for an extra special night of music under the stars and their biggest Australian headline show to date. ​ A portion of a

This summer, the Art Gallery of New South Wales presents a major exhibition exploring the work of Vasily Kandinsky (1866-1944), one of the most influential and best-loved European modernists, exclusively in Sydney as part of the Sydney International Art Series. Kandinsky is credited as a pioneer of western abstract painting, and this exhibition features some of the artist’s most admired paintings, which are usually a highlight of the display at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Opening on Saturday, November 4, Kandinsky is the largest collection of the artist’s work ever to be seen in Australia, featuring more than 50 works. The exhibition traces the full breadth of the artist’s extraordinary life, from his creative beginnings in Munich, to his return to his birthplace of Moscow with the outbreak of World War I, followed by the interwar years spent in Germany where he was an instructor at the Bauhaus, and his final experimental chapter in Paris. Editor's note: the brilliance of Kandinsky's paintings must be seen with your own eyes – no photo or video can capture the depth and layering of these works, the vibrancy and timelessness of the artist's colour work, or, as some might say, the "spiritual" energy that draws the viewer in. Check out our first look video here. Visitors to the Art Gallery are invited to delve deeper with a range of exhibition related public programs including talks, tours and workshops, beginning on the opening weekend. You can also join guided dai

I’ve been thinking about collectivism a lot lately; about what happens when we reframe the way we think and work. What if, instead of attempting to step over others, we were to fall in step with our friends instead? Sometimes this is tricky, because capitalism and neoliberalism are very good at teaching us to value ourselves over everyone else, and that achievement looks like being the richest, the prettiest or the smartest person in the room. But what does a world based on caring about each other look like? How can we imagine something so impossibly different? The Master and Margarita, an epic novel penned by Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov under Stalin’s regime – and now a work of collective insanity adapted and directed by Eamon Flack at Belvoir St Theatre – is a lesson in imagining. On paper, the story is ridiculous: the Devil turns up in a park in Moscow, meets a couple of writers, and tells them about a novelist called “the Master” and his great love, Margarita, who becomes a (naked) witch to protect the Master’s manuscript (but also just, because?). The Master’s manuscript is told in pieces between the Devil and his entourage (including a giant black cat and a very thin man wearing pince-nez glasses) as they wreak havoc on Moscow, and draws parallels between the power structures in ancient Galilee and Stalin’s Russia.  So much theatrical beauty and recklessness happens in this show... and Sydney’s stages are better for it. The Master and Margarita, the novel, was writte

Potts Point's hole-in-the-wall Bones Ramen is teaming up with some of Sydney’s best chefs for a month-long chef series called Noodle Nights, and our chopsticks are ready. Tristan Rosier from Surry Hill’s nostalgia-laced spots Arthur and Jane; Nik Hill from Paddington’s French bistro Porcine; Billy Hannigan from the CBD’s Tiva Lounge; and Dan Johnston and Danny Guthrie from Redfern’s good-times-Italian Fontana will all be doing a one-night-only takeover of the Tokyo-style space where they will be serving up a delicious noodle dish of their creation. And while the menu is a secret for now, we can say you won’t be eating any traditional ramen numbers. Instead, French techniques, Italian twists and native Aussie ingredients will make an appearance. Plus, Bones’ snack list will be available, as will booze by Brandy Martignago and Dylan Spowart from 1930s drinking den Dulcie's Kings Cross. Noodle Nights at Bones Ramen will run from 5-9pm every Sunday for a month, kicking off with Rosier on Sunday, November 26, and will follow with Hill on Sunday, December 3, Hannigan on Sunday, December 10, and Johnston and Guthrie on Sunday, December 17. There are no bookings (it’s a first come first serve basis), so we say forget your Sunday-night food shop and get down to Bayswater Road quick smart for a bowl you’ll want to slurp up all night. RECOMMENDED: In the area? These are the best places to eat in Potts Point Slurp your way around our favourite places to get noodle soups in Sydney Check o