Rules for Living

× Find a Show Promote your Show Ticketing Login/Register

Rules for Living

26 Oct 2020 to 12 Dec 2020

Meet the family. Edith is a highly-strung matriarch who prepares for lunch like it’s a military offensive. Youngest son Matthew, a frustrated actor and reluctant lawyer, longs for a different career … and for his brother’s wife. But Sheena, peeved and prickling for an argument, longs only for a drink. It’s Christmas – what could possibly go wrong?

Sam Holcroft’s audacious script cranks the familial tension up to 11 using narrative tricks that clue the audience into a joke of which the hapless characters are unaware. Frenetically funny, Rules for Living is about all those expectations and roles that life sets upon us – and the tics and twitches that betray us when we struggle to shake them off.

Susanna Dowling makes her STC directorial debut with a brilliant ensemble cast including Heather Mitchell (The Harp in the South), Michelle Lim Davidson (Banging Denmark) and Logie Award-winner Hazem Shammas.

Timed for the silly season, Rules For Living is the most deliciously dysfunctional Christmas lunch you’ll ever attend.

“An intelligent comedy that leaves us questioning at what point the rules for living we all adopt become a form of entrapment." The Guardian UK

Share This Event:

Venue

Sydney Opera House - Drama Theatre

Get Directions

Session TimesDuration

Approx 2hrs 30mins incl interval

Restrictions/Warnings

You may also like...

Pigeon Fool

9 Jul 2026 to 12 Jul 2026 Session Times
Thu, 9 Jul, 2:50pm - 3:30pm AEST
Thu, 9 Jul, 3:40pm - 4:20pm AEST
Thu, 9 Jul, 4:30pm - 5:10pm AEST
Thu, 9 Jul, 6:20pm - 7pm AEST
Thu, 9 Jul, 7:10pm - 7:50pm AEST
Thu, 9 Jul, 8pm - 8:40pm AEST
Fri, 10 Jul, 2:50pm - 3:30pm AEST
Fri, 10 Jul, 3:40pm - 4:20pm AEST
Fri, 10 Jul, 4:30pm - 5:10pm AEST
Fri, 10 Jul, 6:20pm - 7pm AEST
Fri, 10 Jul, 7:10pm - 7:50pm AEST
Fri, 10 Jul, 8pm - 8:40pm AEST
Sat, 11 Jul, 1pm - 1:40pm AEST
Sat, 11 Jul, 1:50pm - 2:30pm AEST
Sat, 11 Jul, 3:40pm - 4:20pm AEST
Sat, 11 Jul, 4:30pm - 5:10pm AEST
Sat, 11 Jul, 6:20pm - 7pm AEST
Sat, 11 Jul, 7:10pm - 7:50pm AEST
Sat, 11 Jul, 8pm - 8:40pm AEST
Sun, 12 Jul, 1pm - 1:40pm AEST
Sun, 12 Jul, 1:50pm - 2:30pm AEST
Sun, 12 Jul, 3:40pm - 4:20pm AEST
Sun, 12 Jul, 4:30pm - 5:10pm AEST
Sun, 12 Jul, 6:20pm - 7pm AEST
Sun, 12 Jul, 7:10pm - 7:50pm AEST

Bondi Pavilion, High Tide Room,

counterpoint

$15 - $20

MaaMaa and Nonnas Kitchen

10 Jul 2026 to 18 Jul 2026 Session Times
Friday, 10 July 202610:30am, 2:00pm
Saturday, 11 July 202610:30am, 2:00pm
Sunday, 12 July 202610:30am, 2:00pm
Tuesday, 14 July 202610:30am, 2:00pm
Wednesday, 15 July 202610:30am, 2:00pm
Thursday, 16 July 202610:30am, 2:00pm
Friday, 17 July 202610:30am, 2:00pm
Saturday, 18 July 202610:30am, 2:00pm

Sydney Opera House - Centre for Creativity

Sydney Opera House

Carer and Child Ticket: $60