RUNAWAY Gardens:  A frolicsome folly showcasing Sydney’s best live, luscious and up late entertainment

Adding zing to the lives of Sydneysiders, RUNAWAY Gardens returns on Tuesday 16 August to its iconic harbourside location at The Rocks, setting fire to the mid-winter blues with lashings of music, cabaret, and comedy, for Sydney Fringe Festival 2022.

Central to the awe-inspiring artistry and uninhibited festivity of RUNAWAY Gardens is the Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent. Step into the opulent interior with its warm wood finishes, sumptuous velvet, bevelled mirrors, and stunning stained-glass windows, and settle in for a night designed to be unique, intoxicating, and custom-made for thrill seekers, romantics, heartbreakers, and dream chasers. 

Risqué but always extraordinary, the queen of Weimar punk returns with a six-week season of the world-wide smash hit Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett. There will be dazzling spectacles of sword swallowing, hair hanging, boundary pushing burlesque, and jaw dropping Cirque Du Soleil aerialists.

You can also catch the RUNAWAY Legends, a unique series of performances from bona fide legends of the Australian music scene. These live and intimate performances from musicians including Daryl Braithwaite, Kate Ceberano, Diesel, Renee Geyer, Richard Clapton, Ross Wilson & The Peaceniks, and The Black Sorrows. Adding extra variety to the musical lineup, RUNAWAY Gardens will also feature 2 special Friday Up Late gigs from multi-ARIA award nominated artists Odette and Jack Ladder.

The RUNAWAY Festival Club lock-in offers over 18s the chance to catch the best of the fest each Thursday night, with a different lineup of handpicked artists. Daring, dangerous, funny, smoking hot and definitely not for the faint-hearted, there’ll be comics, cabaret, circus, and crooners, all backed by the house jazz band.

If it’s a hotbed of wit and comedy you’re after, the RUNAWAY Comedy Allstars will deliver a series of solo shows by some of the biggest names in comedy touring Australia including Arj Barker, Jimeoin, Akmal, and Lawrence Mooney. Not to mention the special star-studded one-off Multicultural Comedy Gala including Dilruk Jayasinha, Georgie Carroll, and Tahir. The RUNAWAY Comedy Allstars will bring the hysterical, the provocative, the wry observations and the jibes in an unstoppable onslaught of gags, while you provide the laughter.

Planning a catch up with friends or a hot date, the gorgeous outdoor bar and pop-up restaurant at RUNAWAY Gardens is ideal. Treat yourself to seasonal, locally inspired gourmet food and beverages, pre- or post-show, and all with a backdrop of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Open from 4-10pm Tuesday to Thursday, and 12 noon to 11pm (Friday and Saturday) and 10pm (Sunday) on weekends, RUNAWAY Gardens will set the Sydney entertainment scene ablaze for six sizzling weeks. Don’t miss out – purchase tickets: sydneyfringe.com/runaway-gardens/