An unmissable summer of fun for the young and young at heart

Sydney – Tuesday 27 October, 2020. Much-loved Australian children’s singer and entertainer Justine Clarke leads a summer of fun with sing-along favourites, classic stories and best-selling, award-winning productions for the young, and young at heart, at the Sydney Opera House.

Justine Clarke (ABC TVs Play School and The Justine Clarke Show) will perform all her hits including “Watermelon”, “Dinosaur Roar”, “Everywhere’s a Dance Floor” and “I Like to Sing” in two joyful live performances for ages 3+ in the Joan Sutherland Theatre (14 Nov).

Australia’s naughtiest wombat takes to the Playhouse stage (10-13 Dec) in an adorable adaptation of Jackie French and Bruce Whatley’s award-winning book Diary of a Wombat. For ages 2+, this delightful production celebrates the Australian landscape with puppetry and a live music score. From the multi-award-winning touring theatre company Monkey Baa.

In the Playhouse in January, escape with monster-sized adventures and spectacular Shakespearean silliness. The Gruffalo’s Child (2-19 Jan) for ages 3+ is an adaptation of the best-selling picture book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler, produced by award-winning Sydney based theatre production house CDP. Comedy maestros The Listies’ Hamlet: Prince of Skidmark (4-22 Jan) will bring the LOLs, with a stinky, silly extravaganza for “kidults” aged 5+. The Listies twist the classic Shakespearean tale into a hysterical “badaptation” of the bard, with plenty of hilarious costumes, supersonic gags and expertly timed stage magic.

Guessing games and outrageous facts are just the beginning when curious kids explore beneath the iconic sails on the Junior Adventure Tour in January. The 45-minute experience takes young (and old) adventurers into the Opera House to discover how the magic of theatre comes to life. For a quintessentially Sydney day out, the Junior Day Pack includes a Junior Adventure Tour with souvenir photo, Junior Lunch with a view at Opera Kitchen (or a take-away picnic lunch) and a show ticket for The Gruffalo's Child or Hamlet: Prince of Skidmark.

As a registered COVID Safe business, the Opera House is implementing a number of onsite measures, in line with NSW Health guidelines and its commitment to the safety and wellbeing of artists, audiences, visitors and staff. Full details here.

Sydney Opera House Head of Children, Families and Creative Learning, Tamara Harrison says: “We look forward to welcoming families back to make new memories together that will be treasured for a lifetime. Our upcoming summer program will ensure our theatres are bursting with fun, silliness, warmth and inspiration thanks to some of Australia’s most brilliant performers and artists. We can’t wait to see and hear the foyers alive again with the shouts and screams of delight from the next generation of arts-lovers and future artists”.

Dynamic, inspirational digital content for children is also available from your home. High school students will enjoy the new series Maths of the Sydney Opera House with rock-star maths teacher and Wootuber, Eddie Woo. Younger audiences will love to see Who’s In the Lift? and listen to House Call, the latest series of the Opera House’s Arty Farty podcast.