World premiere

A great Australian novel. A landmark theatre event. A portrait of Sydney as it once was.

The world premieres of The Harp in the South: Part One and The Harp in the South: Part Two are designed to be enjoyed as one unforgettable, epic theatrical experience.

This major new work is one of the most ambitious productions STC has ever created. Celebrated playwright Kate Mulvany has adapted novelist Ruth Park’s revered Australian trilogy – Missus, The Harp in the South and Poor Man’s Orange – and spread these beloved stories across two equally ambitious plays.

The two parts stand alone, but together they offer over five hours of monumental, exuberant theatre. It’s a moving family saga and a celebration of Sydney in all its funny, gritty glory.

Production Patron Gretel Packer

HOW TO BOOK THESE PLAYS

We encourage you to experience the entire epic. Viewed together they are a vivid and immersive narrative of Australian culture, and a memorable theatrical experience. You can choose to see both parts on one day, or elect to see them on different days.

Buy a package with Part One & Part Two ►

Buy Part One only ►

Buy Part Two only ►

THE PLAYS

First appearing in 1947, Ruth Park’s trilogy brought to life a carnival of characters. Full of humour, romance and spirited rebellion, it captured our city’s best and worst features with a riveting, unflinching and endearing honesty.

It traces the lives of the Darcy family over the course of thirty years. Living at twelve-and-a-half Plymouth Street, Surry Hills, they grow up and grow old amidst brothels and sly grog, the pious and the violent, the opportunists and the desperate.

Artistic Director Kip Williams brings together an star-studded ensemble of 18 actors, with design from the stellar team that fashioned Chimerica in 2017. It’s a stunning work full of music and movement.

The Harp in the South: Part One

The Darcy family saga begins with a love story. It’s 1920 in a dusty, rural NSW town when young Margaret Kilker falls for Hugh Darcy. Newly married and in search of a brighter future, they move to Sydney’s Surry Hills, where they find a home on Plymouth Street and start a family. In the shadow of the Second World War, their daughters Roie and Dolour set out on their own adventures in the crowded, boisterous streets of Sydney.

The Harp in the South: Part Two

The story continues amidst the changing world of Sydney in the 1950s. The shadow of the war lingers, but there is a new danger on the horizon. The homes of Surry Hills’ poor are threatened by government plans for redevelopment. Together, this community of workers, rebels and misfits rise up and fight back, with their voices and with their fists. At twelve-and-a-half Plymouth Street, four generations of the Darcy clan share their narrow terrace home. Beset by tragedy and loss, they struggle on, lucky to survive, ever hopeful in the face of adversity.