Contemporary Performance
Unmissable stories for the stage
Contemporary Performance presents ambitious world-class music theatre, cabaret, circus, magic, contemporary dance, theatre, comedy, immersive theatre and site-specific work from Australia and the world.
Curated by Ebony Bott, the vibrant program elevates the stories and the storytellers that are relevant right now. It champions the reinvention of art forms, contemporary retelling of the classics and the people and productions at the heart of pop-culture.
Dance, Theatre & Music Theatre
Music theatre presentations include seminal 90s rock musical RENT; global pop hit SIX direct from the West End; Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights; Heathers: The Musical; Green Day’s American Idiot; Sondheim’s classic Assassins; crowd-pleaser Thrones! The Musical Parody; and cult ‘60s classic HAIR.
The Opera House has presented leading international productions from pre-eminent dance companies and choreographers including Akram Khan, Michael Keegan-Dolan, Michael Clark Company, Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, Ballet Preljocaj, Sharon Eyal’s L-E-V Dance Company, Natalia Osipova and Hofesh Shechter OBE.
Cabaret & Magic
From the likes of Peepshow from acclaimed Australian company CIRCA to Limbo Unhinged and Blanc de Blanc Encore!, to Michael Feinstein and The Choir of Man, summer entertainment thrills audiences with bold burlesque, captivating cabaret and exciting acrobatics. The program also includes large-scale spectaculars such as The Illusionists, Circus 1903, The Unbelievables and Cirque Stratosphere.
Cabaret was also a fixture in the Opera House’s digital program, From Our House to Yours, with cabaret stars Paul Capsis, Emma Pask, The Tap Pack and Tim Draxl all performing on the Joan Sutherland Theatre stage and broadcast into the homes of audiences around the world while the Opera House’s doors were temporarily closed to the public due to COVID-19.
Comedy
Contemporary Performance celebrates Australia’s world-class comedians, presenting Hannah Gadsby’s comedy phenomena Nanette and follow-up Douglas in the Concert Hall, as well as comedy heroes Celia Pacquola, Sam Simmons, Wil Anderson, Tom Gleeson, Kitty Flanagan, Lano & Woodley, and Judith Lucy.
Recent events...
RENT's powerful message for now: love and hope, 25 years on
RENT is a distinctively 90s musical that has retained its relevance a quarter century later. Lenny Ann Low discusses the latest incarnation of the cult musical with its just-announced cast and crew.
Transforming the Tudors: An interview with SIX co-creator Lucy Moss
Ahead of the Australian premiere of SIX, we spoke to co-creator Lucy Moss about the origins and future of the cult show.
It’s hip to be scared: The terrifying timeliness of ‘American Psycho’
How does American Psycho, one of the most controversial books of the 20th century, hold up in an an era defined by Trump and #MeToo? And what can we expect from the upcoming musical adaptatio?
My love letter to Hofesh Shechter
In the latest Love Letter, Sydney Dance Company's Davide Di Giovanni writes of his admiration for Israeli choreographer, dancer and composer Hofesh Shechter, whose latest work Grand Finale plays the Sydney Opera House this year.
The Tap Pack (Live)
Dust off your dancing shoes, the modern kings of swing are returning for a special live performance in From our House to Yours.
Ebony Bott, Head of Contemporary Performance
Ebony Bott has 16 years’ experience as a festival director, programmer, and creative producer in Australia and New Zealand, working across a variety of senior curatorial, marketing, and audience development positions. She was most recently Creative Director of Cabaret and Commercial at Adelaide Festival Centre (Jan 2018-Oct 2020) where she curated and delivered the award-winning Adelaide Cabaret Festival and the broader musical theatre and commercial program.
Prior to this, she was the Creative Producer of Families and Young People at Arts Centre Melbourne. She has worked in many leading Australian theatre companies in a range of marketing, producing, and directorial roles including Arena Theatre Company, Back to Back Theatre, Circus Oz as well in festival focused roles at the Australian Festival for Young People (Come Out) and New Zealand’s National Theatre for Children and Children’s National Arts Festival in Wellington. She has also worked as a freelance producer for Yana Alana & Tha Paranas; Dee & Cornelius; and contemporary dance artist Alison Currie.