Jonathan Biggins returns to Brisbane as Paul Keating in the smash-hit comedy about a critical time in Australian history and the man that shaped it.
One of Australia’s favourite performers, Jonathan Biggins is Paul Keating – visionary, reformer and rabble-rouser – in a comedy that has taken the nation by storm, The Gospel According to Paul. Sold out in early 2019 before Biggins had even hit QPAC’s Cremorne stage, this is a funny, insightful and occasionally poignant portrait of Paul Keating, the man that – as he tells it – single-handedly shaped contemporary Australia.
Heading to the Playhouse for its return 2021 season, Biggins exquisitely showcases Keating’s eviscerating wit, rich rhetoric and ego the size of Everest, distilling Keating’s essence into 90 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.
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.
Biggins asks the question – what can we learn today from this singular politician, and the momentous time in our country’s history he dominated?
