Perched on Pier 4/5 in Walsh Bay, Sydney Theatre Company is where Sydney dresses up its feelings and puts them under lights. The Wharf’s two flexible theatres, plus seasons at Roslyn Packer Theatre and the Sydney Opera House Drama Theatre, mean year-round excuses to slip into something black and sit in the dark with strangers.

The building itself is a mood: a renovated cargo wharf with exposed timber, soaring ceilings and glass looking straight out to the Harbour Bridge. Grab a pre-show drink at the bar, lean on the balcony rail, and you’ve basically stepped into an establishing shot for a very Australian queer rom-com. Inside, you’ll catch everything from bold new local work to lavish literary adaptations – this is the company behind the hit staging of The Picture of Dorian Gray, so the drama is rarely low-key.

STC crowds skew theatre-literate, art-leaning and very interval-chat-friendly, with plenty of post-show loitering around the forecourt before everyone drifts off towards late-night cocktails in The Rocks or Barangaroo. If you crave culture with your harbour views – and like your classics queered at the edges – an evening at The Wharf is an easy yes.