The beginning of a new year means Sydney Festival 2025 is here! In this year’s program, there are a few shows from France and the Francophonie or with links to them. A French dancer performs among parkourists, skaters and BMXers; a family-friendly cheeky Quebecois circus company transports us to a very strange farm; spoons are intentionally placed in a piano; saxophone, clarinette and beatbox bring a new sound to jazz; and a mammoth production brings a play from 411BC to today. Read on to discover these shows.
7- 11 January, Seymour Centre, Chippendale
Air Time is a high-energy show that mixes dance, parkour, BMX, skateboarding and roller skating that made its debut in Wollongong in 2023. You may be familiar with Branch Nebula’s work, their other shows including one staged in a skatepark, with dancers and parkourists amongst skaters and BMXers: Concrete and Bone Sessions which was part of Sydney Festival 2013.
We spoke to French dancer Cloé Fournier about the show at the time. Read our interview with her here.
Animal (CANADA)
3-5 & 7-12 January, Riverside Theatres, Parramatta
&
16 – 19 January, The Pavillion Performing Arts Centre, Sutherland
Quebecois Cirque Alfonse returns to Sydney Festival with its show Animal which made its Australian debut at Adelaide Fringe 2024. You may have seen their previous shows Barbu and Timber!
You can expect Cirque Alfonse’s signature absurdist humour in this show set on a farm. There’s also a live soundtrack of what they’ve termed “agricultural funk”. A must-see circus for all the family, and one that is definitely not just for kids.
Read our interview with Antoine Carabinier-Lépine of Cirque Alfonse here and our review of the show from Adelaide Fringe 2024 here.
Animal is being performed in two venues:
Pavilion Performing Arts Centre and Riverside Theatres, Parramatta
Antigone in the Amazon (Belgium/Brazil)
4-8 January, Roslyn Packer Theatre, Walsh Bay
Swiss theatre-maker and agitator Milo Rau’s adaptation restages Sophocle’s Antigone as a global endgame on the edge of the Amazon rainforest in Pará, Brazil. There, the future of humanity is at stake – and with it every form of life on Earth. From a classical story of one woman’s stance against the state emerges a dark song about the dangers of exploiting the land and its people.
Antigone in the Amazon brings together indigenous people, actors from Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement (MST) and actors from Europe. It made its Australian debut at Adelaide Festival 2024.
The Cage Project (France/Australia)
24 & 25 January, Carriageworks, Eveleigh
We doubt you’ve ever heard (or seen) piano like this.
The Cage Project sees Australian percussionist, composer and sound artist Matthias Schack-Arnott and French pianist Cédric Tiberghien come together in a reimagining of John Cage’s opus Sonatas and Interludes. For the unfamiliar, John Cage composed this music for prepared piano, which is not piano like you know it but piano where items have been placed inside it to drastically alter the sound, in this case spoons. Schack-Arnott commissioned a visual interpretation of the music, in a large mobile of percussion instruments that float and swing above the piano ringing and chiming. Tiberghien will perform the challenging piece.
The Cage Project made its worldwide debut at Perth Festival 2024 where it was followed by a brief season at Adelaide Festival. We were lucky enough to experience it and you can read our review here. You may also like to read our interview with Cédric Tiberghien here.
CURRENTLY SOLD OUT – WAITLIST AVAILABLE
19 January, ACO On The Pier, Walsh Bay
NoSax NoClar are a French saxophonist/clarinettist/beatboxing duo taking the jazz world by storm with their take on jazz that is unlike anything you’ve heard before. Their sound represents contemporary jazz at its most agile and inventive, bringing in influences from folklore to Balkan, Celtic and Berber music.
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KEY INFO FOR SYDNEY FESTIVAL 2025
WHAT: Sydney Festival 2025
WHEN: 4-26 January 2025
WHERE: Venues across Sydney
HOW: Purchase your tickets via the links above
HOW MUCH: Ticket prices vary depending on the show and the seats chosen
Which shows are you planning to see at Sydney Festival 2025?
