Sydney Opera House Announces UNWRAPPED Lineup For May and June

The Sydney Opera House presents new work responding to the ever-evolving landscape as part of the latest season of UnWrapped. From May - June, the bi-annual event will feature work from Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and artist Lynette Wallworth as part of a world premiere season of HOW TO LIVE (After You Die), and the critically acclaimed RUNT, a gripping and gritty theatrical piece by long time collaborators Patricia Cornelius, Susie Dee and Nicci Wilks (SHIT, Sydney Festival).

Launched in 2018 and curated by Sydney Opera House Director of Programming Fiona Winning, UnWrapped provides a platform for independent Australian artists and small-to-medium companies to showcase new, risk taking work spanning across dance, music, live art and theatre.

Sydney Opera House Director of Programming and UnWrapped Curator, Fiona Winning, says: "Artists have always helped us process the world around us. As we navigate escalating extremism and deepening divisions in our communities, negotiate relationships across geographical borders and attempt to live our lives with purpose, the artists in this season of Unwrapped offer their own 'takes' on our contemporary world. With fierce intelligence, wit and a deep sense of wonder, these works are created by some of Australia's most compelling independent artists."

MotherTongue, MotherLand

Studio, Sunday 8 May 2022

Korean-born vocalist improviser and composer Sunny Kim presents an immersive and poetic response to motherhood. Accompanied by internationally renowned collaborators Helen Svoboda (double bass), Aviva Endean (clarinets), Mindy Meng Wang (guzheng) and Gelareh Pour (kamancheh, geychak and vocals), the musicians will explore their relationships with their mothers, many of whom were born on overseas shores. Creating an intimate space in which family stories of longing, belonging, joy and pain are shared and celebrated, audiences are invited to connect across cultures and languages through spoken to sung, structured to improvised, and traditional to experimental sonic narratives. This work is commissioned by Sydney Opera House's New Work Now initiative and is presented in association with UKARIA and Finding Our Voice, with support from the Restart Investment to Sustain and Expand (RISE) Fund - an Australian Government initiative.

HOW TO LIVE (After You Die)

Playhouse, Thursday 12 May - Saturday 14 May

Lynette Wallworth brings her renowned storytelling skills to the stage in a surprising new work that sheds light on her personal experience with the seduction of cultish extremism. Wallworth uses her artworks and a wry sensibility to navigate questions around how we are influenced, what are we seeking and how can our differing realities co-exist. This work is co-commissioned by New Work Now enabled by Ann Sherry AO and Michael Hogan, Rising Festival and THE OFFICE performing arts + film and is a poignant exploration of the plethora of extremist influences that can manipulate and mould us unless we find our way back to the creation of our own story.

RUNT

Studio, Thursday 12 May - Saturday 14 May

From the makers of the critically acclaimed SHIT (Sydney Festival), Patricia Cornelius, Susie Dee and Nicci Wilks, this bold theatrical work follows one small woman's attempt to take back power, to lead the oppressed, to rise up and fight for equality in this gritty and unrelenting world. In a culture that's dismissive at best and hostile at worst of the underdog, the idea of the survival of the runt has great resonance.

Coil

Studio, Wednesday 8 - Saturday 11 June

An elegy to the closure of the local video shop, Coil blurs the boundaries of theatre and cinema while drawing on our collective memories to pay tribute to the glory days of the video store and commemorate the communities we made within them. Brought to the stage by re:group performance collective, comprising of artists based between Hobart, Wollongong and Sydney, the playful and timely live cinema experience explores the joys, perils and pitfalls of nostalgia.

Insiders pre-sale commences: 9am Wednesday 23 March

Tickets on-sale to What's On: 11am Wednesday 23 March

Tickets on sale to general public: 9am Friday 25 March

Tickets: $45 + booking fee

Tickets for under 30's: $30 + booking fee

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