Review: The Gospel According to Paul – The Second Coming at Wharf 1, Sydney Theatre Company
Review by Kate Gaul
It’s a rare pleasure to watch a work grow old gracefully. I first met The Gospel According to Paul in 2017, at the inaugural Arts on Tour SALON, an industry pitching and networking event in Sydney. Jonathan Biggins stood up with a short pitch for a piece still in development, and it stayed with me. Almost a decade later, the show is back in Sydney, still finding audiences and still landing every punch.
The journey since has been remarkable. The play premiered at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre in February 2019, then played the Seymour Centre and the Playhouse at Sydney Opera House that same year. COVID interrupted its 2020 tours, but it came back fighting. It toured regional venues in 2021, travelled as far as Black Swan in Perth in 2025, and now lands at Wharf 1. Few Australian works travel this widely, and fewer still keep the same freshness on the road.
Biggins’s Keating is uncanny. He has the voice, the stance, the hands, the swagger and, above all, that baroque, lethal way with words. His timing is immaculate, and he wears the material so lightly that it looks effortless, which only a performer this skilled can manage. This is much more than mimicry, though. The script weaves political history, satire and personal reflection, and it gets past the public bruiser to the private man. Under the laughs there is real warmth, and moments of genuine poignancy.
At its heart is a question that grows more pointed with each season: is today’s lack of leadership a product of our times, or can real leaders shape their times? Biggins’s Keating is a man raised in the tribe of the Labor Party, educated at the knee of Jack Lang, who treated economics as an artform and asked the nation to confront the wrongs of its colonial past. The portrait is affectionate but never uncritical. The ego the size of Everest is on full display, and so is the vision. We leave entertained, and a little wistful for public life conducted with such wit and ambition.
The creative team serves him beautifully. Aarne Neeme directs with a light touch and lets the performance breathe, never crowding it. Mark Thompson’s set is a deeply satisfying portrait of its subject: a gentleman’s study of fine European furniture, and antique clocks, as much Keating’s self-image as his surroundings. Verity Hampson’s lighting is quietly superb, and David Bergman’s sound and video design add wit without stealing focus.
The script hasn’t stood still either. Biggins has updated it over the years to take in recent political events, so this Second Coming feels sharp and current rather than preserved in amber. That’s smart work, and it is a big part of why the show still bites.
You don’t need to be a Keating devotee. A feel for Australian political history adds a layer, but this is no nostalgia tour of the Hawke–Keating years. It’s a sparkling piece of theatre, led by a senior artist in full command of his craft and his audience.
The show’s longevity is a verdict on the writing, the performance and the producing. A quiet round of applause here for producer Jo Dyer, who has kept the show alive and worked tirelessly to take it to audiences right around Australia. Few works outlive their moment. This one has.
A very welcome return. Call it the revival we had to have. A great performer, a sharp script and a compelling subject can keep a show alive for a very long time. You won’t be disappointed.
