“I had a conversation with a colleague of mine about 18 months ago about this idea that a society’s memory only really extends to the experience of our grandparents and as history starts to go back beyond that point in time, we start to forget about the lessons of the past,” says Kip Williams, Artistic Director of Sydney Theatre Company, announcing the company’s 2020 season. “It really resonated with me because it speaks to the importance of storytelling in our culture and how stories can be the receptacle of those lessons but are also opportunities to investigate the problems of the past which are re-emerging today. Thinking about the social and political climate of the mid-20th century, it feels like a lot of those social issues and political crises are beginning to rear their heads. So, a lot of the stories we’ve put into the 2020 season are directly speaking to today through the lens of the past, whilst there are also a number of stories that are brand new and of today as well.”

Marta Dusseldorp for...