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Members of the public invited to join climate action leaders for a free thought-provoking event

Sydney – Wednesday 8 December, 2021. The Sydney Opera House and Sydney Festival will co-present a timely, free event in January exploring the themes of THAW, an epic aerial performance work at the Opera House by internationally renowned local physical theatre-makers Legs On The Wall. Members of the public can register in advance to speak at the free soapbox-style event, taking place in the Drama Theatre foyer on Sunday 16 January, 2022.

Climate leaders and change agents will join registered members of the public to respond to the THAW installation in a series of 10-minute soapbox-style speeches. Leading thinkers discussing the urgency of the climate situation and actionable solutions include:

  • Western Sydney-based general practitioner, Chair of Doctors for the Environment Australia (NSW) and advocate for a sustainable future Kim Loo;
  • Professor of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Sydney, Deputy Director of the Sydney Environment Institute, lead of the Multispecies Justice project and author of Summertime: Reflections on a Vanishing Future Danielle Celermajer;
  • Independent economist and Councillor with the Climate Council Nicki Hutley; and
  • Independent MP for Warringah, Olympic medallist and former barrister Zali Steggall.

THAW is part aerial spectacular, part slow-drip suspense thriller featuring a lone woman dancing atop a colossal 2.7 tonne block of ice suspended 20 metres above Sydney Harbour from a crane on the Opera House’s Western Broadwalk. Isolated on this frozen world, the woman scrambles to protect it from the elements and the industrial crane that seems to toy with them both. Her future in the balance, onlookers await as the iceberg melts; a potent metaphor for the climate crisis. The work is set to a score by Matthew Burtner.

You would be hard pressed to find a more timely or urgent piece of live art than THAW, an epic installation that tackles the big issues, on a grand scale and represents Legs on the Wall at their absolute best. I’m thrilled that Sydney Festival and Sydney Opera House have partnered for this important event, and I’m excited to see some of our brightest minds and audience members drilling into the environmental conversations that I’m sure this important work will spark,” said Sydney Festival Director Olivia Ansell

Legs On The Wall Artistic Director Joshua Thomson added: “Enough Talk sums up perfectly how the Legs team and I were feeling as we created THAW. We wanted to push to the absolute limit of our own capacity and expression, to reflect the urgency of the climate situation, while also beckoning other voices to join us, to build a collective that will forge a way through, together.

For media information, please contact:

Francesca Breen
Communications Coordinator
fbreen@sydneyoperahouse.com
0434 257 068