Sydney Opera House Opens Studio For Forced Entertainment Workshop

The Sydney Opera House will open its Studio to artists for a three-hour Forced Entertainment workshop on Friday, 25 September 2026, giving participants a chance to devise theatre inside one of Sydney’s most recognisable cultural venues. Led by Richard Lowdon, the 1pm session uses games, improvisation, movement, text and observation rather than a conventional lecture or technique class.

The workshop is designed for emerging, mid-career and senior artists, with no prior performance or movement skills required. Participants will work collectively to create non-narrative material, using rules and prompts as a framework for choreography, conversation and group response.

The $75 ticket includes the workshop and a ticket to a Table Top Shakespeare performance, subject to availability, with an $8.95 booking fee per transaction. The connected 7pm performance on 25 September is a double bill of The Comedy of Errors and Othello, giving attendees a practical introduction to Forced Entertainment’s methods before seeing them applied in performance.

Richard Lowdon, a founding member, designer and performer with Sheffield-based Forced Entertainment, will lead the session. The Opera House asks participants to bring comfortable clothing, water and a sense of fun, because the workshop is built around active group work and participation.

The format is deliberately process-driven. Game structures give participants a framework for making choices, while each person’s movement, offer or interruption changes what the group can do next.

That approach makes Moves in the Game different from a standard acting masterclass, where an artist may learn and practise a technique individually. It is closer to a structured laboratory for presence, timing, response and collective composition, with actors, directors, dancers, writers and devisers all able to enter without a prescribed skill level.

The event also reflects the Opera House’s growing focus on participatory creative work. Louise Herron, Sydney Opera House chief executive officer, said the venue aimed to give young people opportunities to explore creativity and become “the creative citizens of the future”, while its 2024–25 annual report recorded more than 9,000 participants across programs and workshops.

Moves in the Game forms part of Forced Entertainment’s first Sydney season of Table Top Shakespeare, which runs from 22 to 27 September 2026 in the Studio. Six performers retell Shakespeare’s plays with household objects, including jars, bottles, salt shakers and cleaning products, in a stripped-back format that asks audiences to supply some of the imaginative scenery.

The performance has received strong independent interest, although its unusual method will not suit every Shakespeare audience. Limelight critic Humphrey Bower described the work as a “rich, strange and illuminating experience”, while KCRW theatre critic Anthony Byrnes asked, “Why can’t more theater be like this?”

That praise comes with a clear creative bargain: the company removes much of Shakespeare’s original language and replaces full scenery and large casts with narration, objects and direct audience attention. Readers expecting a conventional literary production should choose carefully, while those willing to accept a jar as a character may find the approach unusually immediate.

The workshop begins at 1pm and runs for approximately 180 minutes, so late arrivals may miss the opening group exercises. The evening double bill is listed at 140 minutes including a 20-minute interval, and the performance ticket attached to the workshop is subject to availability during the one-week Sydney season.

For anyone attending both sessions, public transport is the practical choice. Circular Quay is served by T2, T3 and T8 train services, buses, ferries and light rail, followed by a seven to 10-minute walk to the Opera House, with a courtesy bus and accessible buggy service available between Circular Quay and the precinct.

Allow extra time for bag screening and travel between sessions. Larger handbags, backpacks, umbrellas, suitcases and prams may need to be cloaked, and the Opera House advises visitors to travel lightly because central Sydney parking is limited.

The long gap between the workshop and performance can support a full Circular Quay visit. Bennelong offers a pre-theatre menu and recommends allowing at least one hour and 45 minutes for its three-course meal, while Opera Bar, Midden by Mark Olive, the Royal Botanic Garden, the Museum of Contemporary Art and The Rocks provide less formal alternatives nearby.

Wheelchair and companion seating are available through the Sydney Opera House Box Office on 1300 764 849 or [email protected]. The workshop is for adults aged 18 and over, and tickets should be bought through Sydney Opera House-authorised channels because resale tickets may be fake, void or previously cancelled.

Moves in the Game takes place at 1pm on Friday, 25 September 2026, in the Sydney Opera House Studio. The afternoon session and evening performance offer artists a rare chance to test a company’s creative process, then watch its imaginative rules unfold in front of an audience.