The Dictionary of Lost Words
Adapted by Verity Laughton from the novel by Pip Williams
Directed by Jessica Arthur
World Premiere
26 October – 16 December 2023
Pip Williams’ award-winning New York Times bestseller and book club favourite comes to the stage in a world premiere production.
Date |
Time |
Thursday 26 October |
7.30pm |
Friday 27 October |
7.30pm |
Monday 30 October |
6.30pm |
Tuesday 31 October |
6.30pm |
Wednesday 1 November |
1.00pm, 7.30pm |
Thursday 2 November |
7.30pm |
Friday 3 November |
7.30pm |
Saturday 4 November |
1.30pm, 7.30pm |
Monday 6 November |
6.30pm |
Tuesday 7 November |
6.30pm |
Wednesday 8 November |
1.00pm, 7.30pm |
Thursday 9 November |
7.30pm |
Friday 10 November |
7.30pm |
Saturday 11 November |
1.30pm, 7.30pm |
Monday 13 November |
6.30pm |
Tuesday 14 November |
6.30pm |
Wednesday 15 November |
7.30pm |
Thursday 16 November |
7.30pm |
Thursday, 16 November |
7.30pm |
Friday 17 November |
7.30pm |
Saturday 18 November |
1.30pm, 7.30pm |
Monday 20 November |
6.30pm |
Tuesday 21 November |
6.30pm |
Wednesday 22 November |
1.00pm, 7.30pm |
Thursday 23 November |
7.30pm |
Friday 24 November |
7.30pm |
Saturday, 25 November |
1.30pm, 7.30pm |
Monday 27 November |
6.30pm |
Tuesday 28 November |
6.30pm |
Wednesday 29 November |
1.00pm, 7.30pm |
Thursday 30 November |
7.30pm |
Friday 1 December |
7.30pm |
Saturday 2 December |
1:30pm, 7.30pm |
Monday 4 December |
6.30pm |
Tuesday 5 December |
6.30pm |
Wednesday 6 December |
1.00pm |
Thursday 7 December |
7.30pm |
Friday 8 December |
7.30pm |
Saturday 9 December |
1.30pm |
Saturday 9 December |
7.30pm |
Monday 11 December |
6:30pm |
Tuesday 12 December |
6:30pm |
Wednesday 13 December |
1.00pm 7:30pm |
Thursday 14 December |
7:30pm |
Friday 15 December |
7:30pm |
Saturday 16 December |
1:30pm, 7:30pm |
Ticket |
Price |
Previews |
|
A Reserve |
$70 |
Ticket |
Price |
Friday to Saturday |
|
A Reserve |
$125 |
Ticket |
Price |
Monday to Thursday |
|
A Reserve |
$114 |
Seniors |
Senior card holders (Aust. only) |
A Reserve |
$109 |
Pensioner |
Pension card holders (Aust. only) |
A Reserve |
$88 |
Students |
Student card holders (Aust. only) |
A Reserve |
$88 |
Under 30* |
|
A Reserve |
$67 |
Groups 10+ |
Please call +61 2 9250 7700 |
A Reserve |
$104 |
*Must provide valid ID
$8.95 booking fee applies per transaction
Prices correct at the time of publication and subject to change without notice. Exact prices will be displayed with seat selection.
The authorised agencies for this event are Sydney Opera House and Sydney Theatre Company. For more information about Authorised Agencies, see the frequently asked questions below.
In English
Wheelchair accessible
Audio loop available
Auslan Interpreted and Audio Described Performances available
Captioned performances
Tuesday 5 December, 6:30pm
Saturday 9 December, 1:30pm
Captions are text descriptions that display the session's dialogue, identify speakers, and describe other relevant sounds that are otherwise inaccessible to people who are deaf or have hearing loss. Captions will be displayed on a screen or available via your personal device (phone). To be seated in the area with best view of the screens book online using the caption price type, call the Sydney Theatre Company on 02 9250 1777 or email boxoffice@sydneytheatre.com.au. Alternatively, to access the captions on your personal device (phone), scan the QR Code on the sign displayed at the entry to the venue.
Auslan Interpreted performance
Thursday 7 December, 7:30pm
Experienced Auslan theatre interpreters stand to the side of the stage and translate what the actors are saying or singing into Auslan. A block of seats is reserved for users of this service to ensure a good view of the interpreter and the stage. Book by calling Sydney Theatre Company on 02 9250 1777 or email boxoffice@sydneytheatre.com.au
Audio Described performance
Saturday 25 November, 1:30pm
An audio description service to enhance the experience of customers who are blind or have low vision is offered for selected performances at the Sydney Opera House. This is a live commentary of the visual elements of a performance, by trained audio describers. Audio description is relayed via a free headset and receiver linked to the FM radio system. For select Audio described performances tactile tours will be available. Tactile tours allow patrons who are blind or have low vision to have a hands-on experience. Patrons are given access to costumes, props and stage set in order to capture the atmosphere of the work. Tactile tours occur before the performance. To book the service and confirm if your chosen performance has a tactile tour available, call Sydney Theatre Company on 02 9250 1777 or email boxoffice@sydneytheatre.com.au
Find out more about accessibility at Sydney Opera House
Content Warnings
Please be aware this production contains strong language, adult themes, theatrical smoke and haze, theatrical blood.
Run time
This show runs for approximately 3 hours, including an interval.
Event duration is a guide only and may be subject to change.
Age
Children aged 15 years and under must be accompanied at all times. Children aged 0 - 23 months at the time of a performance may be seated on a parent’s lap free of charge. All children occupying a seat or aged 2 year/s of age or older must hold a valid ticket.
The Opera House is committed to the safety and wellbeing of children that visit or engage with us. Read our Child Safety Policy.
Discover the secret power of words
Pip Williams’ award-winning New York Times bestseller and book club favourite, The Dictionary of Lost Words, will be brought to vivid life in a new adaptation for the stage by Verity Laughton and directed by one of Australia’s best directors, Jessica Arthur (Grand Horizons, Wonnangatta).
It’s 1886 and the very first edition of the Oxford English Dictionary is being compiled. Four-year-old Esme Nicoll has a front row seat. Well, she’s hiding under the sorting table, anyway. As her father and his male colleagues decide which words stay and which go, Esme collects the discarded (often gendered) scraps to compile her own far more radical, far more magical dictionary.
A sweeping historical tale in the spirit of The Harp in the South, The Dictionary of Lost Words follows Esme from her childhood in the 1880s, into adulthood at the height of the women’s suffrage movement and the beginning of the First World War.
This novel captured the imagination of hundreds of thousands of readers around the globe, and was recommended by book club trendsetters like Reese Witherspoon. In 2023, Verity Laughton’s adaptation will unfurl this beautiful and transportive reflection on the love between a daughter and her father, at a time when the women’s rights movement was first gaining traction, into a delectable and warm night of theatre.
Presented by Sydney Theatre Company and State Theatre Company South Australia
Artist Information
Adaptor
Verity Laughton
Original Novel by
Pip Williams
Director
Jessica Arthur
Set Designer
Jonathon Oxlade
Costume Designer
Ailsa Paterson
Lighting Designer
Trent Suidgeest
With
Brett Archer
Rachel Burke
Tilda Cobham-Hervey
Raj Labade
Ksenja Logos
Angela Mahlatjie
Chris Pitman
Other information
Venue information
Our foyers will be open 90 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and two hours pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. Refreshments will be available for purchase from our theatre bars. Please remember to maintain physical distancing whilst consuming drinks in our foyers.
All Sydney Opera House foyers are pram accessible, with lifts to the main and western foyers. The public lift to all foyers is accessible from the corridor near the escalators on the Lower Concourse and also in the Western Foyer via the corridor on the Ground Level (at the top of the escalators). Pram parking will be available outside the theatres in the Western Foyer consistent with COVID-safe rules.
Getting here
The Sydney Opera House Car Park, operated by Wilson Parking, is open and available to use. Wilson Parking offer discounted parking if you book ahead. Please see their website for details.
Please check the Transport NSW website for the latest advice and information on travel and COVID-19 safety measures. You can catch public transport (bus, train, ferry) to Circular Quay and enjoy a six min walk to the Opera House.
Covid-safe information
The health and wellbeing of everyone attending the Opera House is our top priority. We’re committed to making your experience safe, comfortable and enjoyable, with a number of measures in place including regular cleaning of high-touch areas, air conditioning systems that maximise ventilation, and hand sanitiser stations positioned in all paths of travel. We encourage you to wear a mask in indoor settings or when physical distancing can’t be maintained, and please stay home if you feel unwell. If you need to discuss your ticketing or booking options, contact our Box Office team on 02 9250 7777.
Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of everyone on site, and we are closely following NSW Health guidelines and advice. The Sydney Opera House is registered as a COVID Safe business with the NSW Government. For detailed information about our COVID-19 safety measures and what’s required of you when visiting, please see our plan your visit page.
Face masks are strongly recommended for all patrons while inside our theatres and foyers, including during the performance. Please bring your own mask.
As you move around the Opera House, practise physical distancing (1.5 metres whenever possible) and follow the guidance provided by our staff and signage.
Within venues, always take your allocated seat.
For detailed information about our COVID-19 safety measures and what’s required of you, please see our plan your visit page.
The Sydney Opera House no longer requires patrons to show that they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
Face masks are strongly recommended for all patrons while inside our theatres and foyers, including during the performance. Please bring your own mask.
Contact information is required when making a booking with us and upon arrival at the Opera House, as set out in our General Terms and Conditions for Tickets and Attendance at Events and our Customer Privacy Statement.
As the ticket purchaser, you are responsible for recording the contact details of your guests. Contact information will only be used for the purposes of contact tracing, if required, and will be deleted at least 28 days after your event.
Frequently asked questions
Ticket purchases and collection at our Box Office is discouraged and eTicket or postal delivery methods should be used, wherever possible. However, if you are collecting your tickets from the Box Office, we recommend doing this at least 60 minutes before the event starts. If you have already received your tickets, the venue doors will be open 45 minutes pre-show for Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and 30 minutes pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. Please take your seats as soon as you arrive.
If you are late, we will seat you as soon as we can and, where possible, in your allocated seat. However, to reduce movement in the venue as well as minimise disruption to the performance and other patrons, ticketholders may be seated in an allocated latecomer’s seat. Please be aware that some events have lock-out periods. In these cases, latecomers will be admitted at a suitable break in the performance. On occasions, this may not be until the interval, or at all where there is no interval.
Details of our right to refuse admission can be found in our General Terms and Conditions for Tickets and Events.
In accordance with our venue security procedures, Opera House security will be scanning and checking bags under the Monumental Stairs, prior to entering the building. Bags will be scanned by an x-ray machine, and staff will wear appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) when handling your belongings, such as gloves. Cloaking facilities will be open 60 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and 60 minutes pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. However it is strongly encouraged that you travel lightly to minimise contact and queuing. Any bags larger than an A4 piece of paper will need to be checked into the Cloak Room.
The authorised agency for this event is the Sydney Opera House.
Only tickets purchased by authorised agencies should be considered reliable. If you purchase tickets from a non-authorised agency such as Ticketmaster Resale, Viagogo, Ticketbis, eBay, Gumtree, Tickets Australia or any other unauthorised seller, you risk that these tickets are fake, void or have previously been cancelled. RESALE RESTRICTION APPLIES. For more details, please refer to our General Terms and Conditions for Tickets and Attendance at Events.
Please contact Box Office on 9250 7777 as soon as possible to advise if you can no longer attend. If you can no longer attend because you are unwell, or have been in contact with someone displaying COVID-19 symptoms, the Opera House has introduced flexible ticketing options to help you.
Foyers will be open 90 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and two hours pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances. Refreshments will be available for purchase from our theatre bars.
The venue doors will be open 45 minutes pre-show for Concert Hall and Joan Sutherland Theatre performances, and 30 minutes pre-show for Western Foyer venue performances.
Please bring a credit or debit card for any on site purchases to enable contactless payment. You’re welcome to bring your own water bottle but no other food and drinks are permitted inside our venues. Opera Bar, Opera Kitchen and Portside are also available for you to enjoy.
The health, safety and wellbeing of everyone at the Sydney Opera House is our top priority. In line with this commitment, the Opera House became a smoke-free site in January 2022. Read our Smoke-free Environment Policy.

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