The Gospel According to Paul

One of Australia’s favourite performers, Jonathan Biggins, is Paul Keating—visionary, reformer and rabble-rouser—in a highly anticipated new comedy, The Gospel According to Paul. Full of intelligence and wit, The Gospel According to Paul is a funny, insightful and occasionally poignant portrait of Paul Keating. The man that—as he tells it—single-handedly shaped contemporary Australia.

Jonathan Biggins’ performance as Paul Keating is well known from the long-running Sydney Theatre Company success story, The Wharf Revue. Beyond the canny impersonation, Jonathan, like so many Australians, has long been fascinated by Keating and what Keating means to Australia. Showcasing his eviscerating wit, rich rhetoric and ego the size of Everest, The Gospel According to Paul distils Keating’s essence into 85 minutes, focussing on key biographical milestones, landmark political achievements and personal obsessions. It shows the man who grew up in the tribe of the Labor Party and gained an education at the knee of Jack Lang, who treated economics as an artform, and demanded we confront the wrongs of our colonial past.

The Gospel According to Paul asks the question—what can we learn today from this singular politician, and the momentous time in our country’s history he dominated?

Says Creator Jonathan Biggins:
"In all my years writing and performing for the Wharf Revue, one character has remained a constant favourite of the audience: Paul Keating. Love him or hate him, he is universally recognised as a leader who not only had a vision for Australia but could articulate it, fight for it and, most importantly, deliver it. The Bankstown boy with no formal education who quickly realised that to get things done in political life, it’s better to be needed than loved. A razor-sharp wit who could destroy opponents with words alone, a romantic and a melancholic who bestrode the public stage yet remained intensely private. I can’t think of more entertaining or significant figure in recent Australian history with whom to spend an evening. All iceberg, no tip."

"This portrait of Keating shines like an afterglow on the hill." - artshub.com

"Biggins almost out-Keaters Keating...If only we had someone this clever running the country." - Lloyd Bradford Syke, Crikey

4.5 stars - The Sydney Morning Herald