Get ready to unleash the kids’ imaginations these spring school holidays, with the Sydney Opera House transforming into a giant creative playground for the inaugural Wild Things International Kids Festival.
Running across 16 days, the festival brings together artists and performers from Australia and around the world, with an exciting program designed for everyone from babies and toddlers to tweens, teens and the young at heart. There are nine Australian premieres, two shows created especially for babies, plus circus, puppetry, dance, theatre, music and plenty of wonderfully weird adventures.
The Forecourt will become a free, family-friendly playground filled with giant interactive installations and performances. Highlights include the enormous nine-metre-high yellow SWING, illuminated boulders in Iwagumi Air Scape, Taiwanese circus spectacular Puzzle and Living Sculptures: How the birds got their colours, an Indigenous-led performance combining First Nations storytelling, contemporary circus and dance.
Inside the Opera House, families can explore an equally eclectic line-up. Little ones can experience their first circus with Be Kind from the Netherlands or dive into an underwater world with Korea’s Waiting!, while older kids can journey from the forests of Ireland to Antarctica, outer space and even the world of James Joyce with You’ll See…, an inventive adaptation of Ulysses created especially for young audiences.
For children aged six and up, Tinker Tales! transforms the stage into a giant construction site, while The Longest Nights tells the unlikely friendship story of a rhinoceros and penguin through Korean pansori. Older children can also step inside a Mongolian yurt for We Come From Far, Far Away, a powerful theatrical experience inspired by the real journeys of young refugees.
There will also be plenty of opportunities to get hands-on, with free creative workshops including sessions led by Australian artists Tin & Ed in collaboration with Apple. Using iPad and Apple Pencil, families can explore augmented reality and the biodiversity of the Great Barrier Reef.
With performances priced at $49 or less and a huge selection of free activities, Wild Things is shaping up to be the ultimate school holiday adventure. Whether your child is fascinated by circus, obsessed with animals, loves getting creative or simply wants to run around somewhere spectacular, there’s something to spark their curiosity.
So, leave the screens at home, pack the snacks and prepare for a school holiday outing that takes kids everywhere from the deep sea to outer space without leaving Sydney.
Wild Things International Kids Festival runs from 26 September to 11 October at the Sydney Opera House.
Check out the full schedule and get tickets here: https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/wild-things/schedule
Leave a Reply