Things to do in Sydney today

Limber up and slip on those walking shoes – Sculpture by the Sea lands back in Bondi this October. This is a momentous year for the world’s largest annual free-to-the-public outdoor sculpture exhibition, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2023. The spectacular two-kilometre Bondi to Tamarama coastal has been transformed once again, with more than 100 eye-catching art installations by Australian and international sculptors. Our arts and culture editor went down to the launch on October 20 to scope out this year's winning sculpture and highlights. Some of the artists who exhibited in the first ever Sculpture by the Sea in 1997 are featured, along exciting new sculptors and professionals who have displayed their work along the coastal time many times before, joining the "Decade Club" and "Double Decade Club". View this post on Instagram A post shared by Time Out Sydney (@timeoutsydney) One of Australia’s leading cultural events, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi attracts approximately 450,000 visitors annually over the course of 18 days. It began as a one-day exhibition run by volunteers featuring works by 64 artists and attended by 25,000 visitors. Since then, the event has grown to become the largest annual outdoor sculpture exhibition in the world, featuring numerous esteemed international artists and signalling the beginning of summer in Sydney. We love to see it. Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, is now open and free to visit until November 6, 2023. The o

Of all the Sondheim musicals that could be staged at the small-yet-perfectly-formed Hayes Theatre, A Little Night Music is perhaps the best suited to the venue’s pint-sized proportions. This waltzing rom-com about the “follies of human beings” and the emotional cross-currents that twist and churn in lovers’ hearts explores a realm of intimate yearnings, personal crises, and moving revelations that not only fit comfortably within the Hayes, but thrive in its close quarters. Broadly inspired by the 1955 Ingmar Bergman film Smiles of a Summer Night, this 1973-penned show is set during a duskless Swedish midsummer at the turn of the 1900s, as a collection of ill-suited couples try to ignore the glaring incompatibilities standing between them and the lives that they long for. Lawyer Fredrik Egerman (Leon Ford) has married a trophy bride, Anne (Melanie Bird), decades his junior. While lovely and kind hearted, she is physically repulsed by her new husband, so much so that after 11 months, their marriage remains unconsummated. Frederick’s grown-up son Henrik (Jeremi Campese) wants to devote himself to purity and goodness in a quest to be seen as a serious person, but his ambitions to join the clergy are overshadowed by his unrequited desire for his stepmother.  ...a focused production that invites the audience to eavesdrop on the quiet intimacies of its characters Meanwhile, revered-but-fading actress, “the one and only” Desiree Armfeldt (Blazey Best), is no stranger to adoration, bo

The days are getting longer, the nights are getting warmer and there’s a scent of festivity in the air. The ushering in of the summer months brings about a sense of carefree whimsy to the city and we’ve got just the event to get your party started – on October 27, the Bacardi Dance Floor party is taking place inside the hallowed halls of the Cell Block Theatre at the National Art School in Darlinghurst, and famed indie dance act Northeast Party House will be taking centre stage. The Bacardi Dance Floor party will also feature musical performances from Gold Fang and Carolina Gasolina, who will bring a mix of reggae, funk, hip-hop and Afrobeat sounds. The folks from Bacardi will be on hand to make sure the zesty cocktails are a’flowing. Nothing says balmy nights quite like a Mojito, eh? And your bargain $30 ticket will get you entry to the party, two signature cocktails and food served throughout the event.  There’s nothing like partying with a conscience – all profits from the gig will be donated to the Support Act charity, which raises much-needed funds for crisis relief services within the music industry. Tickets are on sale now, so get in quick to make sure you’re in the mix at one of the biggest pre-summer parties of the season. What else is on in October? Check out our guide to fun weekend happenings. Hungry? Suss out these award-winning cheap eats in Sydney. Oh, and Sydney just scored its first restaurant subscription service.

The year is 1886, and the very first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is being drafted. A four-year-old called Esme Nicoll hides under the sorting table as her father and fellow lexicographers discern what words should stay and which should go. As the scraps flutter to the floor, Esme collects them and begins to compile her own radical dictionary. Directed by Jessica Arthur and adapted for the stage by Verity Laughton, this production from Sydney Theatre Company and State Theatre Company South Australia is lining up to be one of the most popular shows in STC's bumper 2023 season. Tickets are selling fast for the upcoming Sydney season, playing at the Sydney Opera House's Drama Theatre from Thursday, October 26, following its rapturous sold-out premiere run in Adelaide. Due to popular demand, extra shows have been added to the final dates in December. A sweeping historical tale, The Dictionary of Lost Words traces Esme from her childhood in the 1880s into adulthood at the height of the women’s suffrage movement and the dawn of World War I.  The award-winning novel, written by Pip Williams, captured the imagination of hundreds of thousands of readers worldwide (including by book club trendsetters like Reese Witherspoon) and was translated into 28 languages worldwide. An enchanting, lyrical and thought-provoking celebration of words, The Dictionary of Lost Words celebrates the power of language to shape our world and our experience of it. After the upcoming Sydney season

Every year, Sydneysiders flock to Sculpture by the Sea, but what about sculptures by the cemetery? If you’re more scared of fighting big crowds (like those that will be flocking to Bondi's coast) than the prospect of walking through a cemetery to discover a diverse range of unusual art pieces, we reckon you should check out Hidden at Rookwood Cemetery this spring.  Coming back for its 13th year (now that's spooky!), Hidden Rookwood Sculptures 2023 is a seriously unusual artistic affair that brings visitors an array of spine-tingling arty surprises inside one of the biggest cemeteries in the world, where over one million people have been laid to rest.  If you’re looking for Halloween activity in Sydney, we think you’ve found one.  In 2023, Hidden will be blending the myriad of rich, multicultural and diverse stories of those lying at rest in Rookwood with the creative expressions of a host of different artists. This year will see the introduction of the ‘Stonemasons and Schools’ category, which will see traditional hand carvings and stone work by school kids, teenagers and professional artists, all in one, big, haunting place.  If you visit, you can expect to do a lot of reflecting, strolling and awe-inspired gasping at a range of spectacular contemporary and traditional art forms, sculptures and carvings set against the calming backdrop of Rookwood Cemetery, with the work on show this year all curated by artist Dr Kath Fries.  Hidden is totally free to enter, and you can expl