Between 1946 and 1947, in the living room at Heide cottage (now a gallery), Sidney Nolan worked on a 26-painting series of fabled bushranger Ned Kelly that would go on to become a centrepiece of Australia’s modern art canon. Helmed by Sunday and John Reed, the Heide property at Bulleen was an incubator for Australian modernism in the 1930s. What started as the Reeds’ family home, built on an abandoned dairy farm, became a vibrant artists’ hub, ultimately evolving into what we know today as the Heide Museum of Modern Art.

Sunday, by acclaimed playwright Anthony Weigh, is a fictionalised account of a famous love triangle within the Heide Circle, and how the Reeds built an enduring legacy amid Heide’s blissful gardens. The Melbourne Theatre Company production is now set to premiere at the Opera House, where it will run from October 28 to December 7, presented by Sydney Theatre Company.

Here are five reasons to catch this vivid reimagining of a pivotal moment in Australia’s cultural history.

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A window into the life of a modern art icon

Sunday and John Reed purchased Heide in 1934, and in just a matter of years they transformed it into a hub for some of Melbourne’s leading avant-garde artists, writers and intellectuals. In 1938, they co-founded the Contemporary Art Society, which promoted modernist artists working in Australia, and in the ’40s they published the influential modernist literary magazine Angry Penguins, which John co-edited with surrealist poet Max Harris.

Sunday Reed is considered one of the most important benefactors of modernism in Australia. She is remembered for her generosity, not only with her wealth, but with her intellect and ideas. Sunday explores what may have happened within relationship entanglements among the artists and thinkers at Heide, and the intense political and artistic backdrops they unfolded against, which became the impetus for some of Australia’s most iconic modernist artworks.

It’s critically acclaimed

Sunday debuted in Melbourne in early 2023 with a sold-out season. It received five-star reviews from the Guardian and Theatre Thoughts, as well as high praise from Artshub and Limelight. Reviews highlight the production design as a standout – Anna Cordingley’s abstract set design takes cues from the modernist architecture of the Reeds’ 1960s-built home, as well as artworks the couple collected. Cordingley cites photographs by Man Ray and Edward Weston, with their strong use of shadow, as specific inspirations. The costumes, by Harriet Oxley, are based on photographs of the Heide Circle, with a colour scheme drawn from paintings by Sidney Nolan.

Learn about the Heide collective

Sunday and John Reed opened their home to artists, writers and thinkers alike. Audiences may recognise characters from the play – including Sidney Nolan and Joy Hester – as some of the Heide Circle’s most distinctive figures. And they’ll learn about the bohemian collective that nurtured many more creatives, from painters Albert Tucker and John Perceval to poets Judith Wright and Barrett Reid. Sunday dreams up a behind-the-curtains look at how the Reeds changed the face of modern art in Australia, forging a legacy that lives on at the treasure trove of art, architecture and gardens that is the Heide Museum of Modern Art today.

There’s a love triangle

There’s nothing like a love triangle to inject drama into a story. Sunday Reed’s affair with painter Sidney Nolan is infamous, but so is her deep, abiding love for her husband John. (The affair was open knowledge at Heide, where the three lived together for a time in an unconventional domestic arrangement.) Sunday and Sidney’s relationship was ill-fated, but she left an indelible mark on his work – a diary kept by Sunday in 1943 chronicles their relationship during Sidney’s conscription, detailing phone calls, the steady supply of painting materials she posted to him, and the pictures he sent back. Sunday sets the stage alight with its take on the passions and tension that arose among key personalities in the Heide Circle.

The cast and creatives

Leading the cast is Nikki Shiels as Sunday, who has been praised for her magnetism and versatility in the role – the Guardian called it a “world-class performance”. Shiels also made waves recently as an alternate in Sydney Theatre Company’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, as well as Melbourne Theatre Company’s Girls & Boys and A Streetcar Named Desire. Matt Day, who appeared in Sydney Theatre Company’s 2022 production of Blithe Spirit and ABC TV’s Rake, plays her husband and fellow arts philanthropist John Reed. Newcomer Jude Hyland plays the couple’s adopted son Sweeney, while James O’Connell (Into the Shimmering World, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) stars as Sidney Nolan. Ratidzo Mambo, who also appeared in MTC production The Heartbreak Choir, portrays revered modernist painter Joy Hester.

The creative team has met with equal praise; Anthony Weigh’s playbook has been brought to life by director Sarah Goodes, who is fresh off the back of Sydney Theatre Company’s award-winning production Julia.

Sunday runs from October 28 to December 7 at the Sydney Opera House. Tickets are on sale now via sydneytheatre.com.au.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Sydney Theatre Company.