THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL The Second Coming - Canberra Theatre Centre

 

Jonathan Biggins as Paul Keating in The Gospel According to Paul - The Second Coming.

Written and performed by Jonathan Biggins

Directed by Aarne Neeme – Designed by Mark Thompson

Lighting designed by Verity Hampson – Sound and Video designed by David Bergman

Produced by Jo Dyer – Stage Managed by Tim Burns

Canberra Theatre Centre Playhouse: 15^th to 20th September 2026.

Opening night performance on 16^th September reviewed by BILL STEPHENS

         Jonathan Biggins as Paul Keating shares favourite slides in "The Gospel According to Paul                                                                              The Second Coming". 

Jonathan Biggins describes his play as “the first three-dimensional, unauthorised autobiography written by someone else.”

It is hard to disagree. As entertaining as this masterly performance is, it also offers a fascinating lesson in contemporary Australian political history through the eyes of one of its most erudite participants.

Biggins’ research and writing are exemplary, as are his observations and recreation of his subject’s physical and vocal mannerisms. He is also a brilliant character actor, with a chameleon-like ability to capture the essence of others; a skill he used to significant effect in the much-admired and now-lamented Wharf Revues.

In The Gospel According to Paul The Second Coming, however, his portrayal of Paul Keating goes deeper. As the play unfolds and Biggins, as Keating, comments on current political issues, it becomes difficult to separate performer from subject, even as the production remains marvellously entertaining.

At the start of the performance, Keating addresses the audience from his elegantly appointed, Mark Thompson-designed office. He warns that there will be no personal revelations; instead, he will focus on his achievements, illustrated by a slideshow of significant moments.

Jonathan Biggins as Paul Keating emphasises a point in "The Gospel According to Paul
 The Second coming".

No prime minister, colleague or public servant escapes his merciless barbs. Taking the audience into his confidence, he names names, assigns blame, and delivers assessments while tracing his journey from boyhood to the prime ministership and beyond.

Along the way, Keating reveals his admiration for Tom Jones and impersonates the singer performing his hit “Delilah.” He also displays previously unsuspected terpsichorean skills performing “Pushing Up the Rent,” a parody of “Puttin’ on the Ritz”, complete with high kicks.

Less surprising is the moment when he delves into his extensive record collection to share an excerpt from Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony.

Jonathan Biggins as Paul Keating.

The most revealing moment of all comes when Keating recalls meeting his future wife, Anita. Seemingly overcome with emotion, he pauses and struggles to regain his composure.

Biggins portrays the moment brilliantly and without words, revealing the humanity beneath Keating’s polished wit and urbane public persona and lifting the production beyond pure satire.

Sharp, insightful, and superbly performed, The Gospel According to Paul the Second Coming is both a richly entertaining portrait of a formidable political figure and a thoughtful reflection on Australian public life. Biggins’ wit, meticulous characterisation, and flashes of humanity make this much more than an impersonation. It is a compelling theatrical achievement.

                                                       Photos by Brett Boardman

                                This review also posted in AUSTRALIAN ARTS REVIEW.

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO PAUL - THE SECOND COMING

 

 The Gospel According To Paul. The Second Coming.

Written and performed by Jonathan Biggins. Directed by Arne Neeme. Designer Mark Thompson. Lighting Designer Verity Hampson. Sound and Video  Designer David Bergman. Producer Jo Dyer. Production Manager Barrie Seale. Touring Technical Manager Sam Read. Stage Manager Tim Burns. Photographer Brett Boardman. Soft Tread Theatre. The Playhouse. Canberra Theatre Centre. September 16-19 2026. Bookings: canberraticketing.com.au or 62435711.

Reviewed by Peter Wilkins

 

Jonathan Biggins plays Paul Keating in

The Gospel According to Paul - The Second Coming 

Paul Keating’s scathing one liners are the stuff of legend in the history of parliamentary debating. Who can forget his withering description of a political opponent as “a shiver in search of  spine”? Jonathan Biggins returns with his portrayal of the former Prime Minister.  With an acerbic swipe at fools and nonsense, the Honourable Paul Keating and Member for Blaxland was not just the sharpest parliamentary performer on the block. With his love of art, music and soaring intellect many would consider Keating a truly Renaissance man, but he remains best known for his performance as the nation’s 24th Prime Minister and his sabre sharp repartee. As Biggins reveals, the man remains an enigma. Mark Thompson’s replica set of Keating’s study with its red feature walls, hung with classic portraits and an English landscape and furnished with heavy furniture suggests a traditionalist of a former era rather than a fervent stalwart of the Labor Party since the age of 15. Here is the man for all seasons with the imagination to see the bigger picture and the courage to carry through economic reforms, such as floating the dollar, deregulating the banks to allow foreign banks and cutting tariffs or the social reforms to introduce compulsory superannuation, passing the Native Title Act and delivering the landmark Redfern Speech to acknowledge the wrongs done to the indigenous First nations Peoples. The Gospel According to Paul - The Second Coming is no dry account of Keating’s achievements as Bob Hawke’s Treasurer or the nation’s Prime Minister. Director Arne Neeme and Biggins present a flesh and blood portrayal of a man of astounding intellect with a deep love of music, art, architecture and 95% of the working men and women of the nation.

 During a performance lasting ninety minutes without an interval, Biggins offers a masterful portrayal of a colossus of Australian politics, fearless in assertion, ruthless in condemnation, resolute in reform, unerringly honest and in the end humbled by the genius of Mahler and the great composers. Drawing on the writings of Kerry O’Brien, Troy Bramston and Don Watson as well as the words of Paul Keating, Biggins has drawn together a comprehensive account of the man, his ideas, his ideals, his ambition and and his Nature. It is left to an audience to determine their response to Biggins’s carefully documented account of the man and his life, a theatrical biography that encapsulates the complexity and the character of an unique and intriguing politician. The party faithful and the politicians in the row to my left erupted into gales of laughter and applause as Biggins opened with a scathing attack on political foes and chosen parliamentary colleagues alike. His dismissal of the AUKUS compact and the “odious” Hanson brooked no contradiction. Keating came out swinging and his swipe hit the mark with precision. Actor and subject merge in gesture and voice and the opening night Canberra audience lapped up the performance with delight.

 Director Neeme keeps a tight rein on a performance that in less capable hands could lapse into caricature. The timing is impeccable as Biggins takes us through a slide show of his early life, through to his entry into Parliament, his relationship with Hawke and eventual challenge and ascension to the highest office in the land. For those who lived through his time it is a trip down memory lane and the milestone events of his political life. To a less informed audience it may be a lesson in the visionary ideal and leadership. All this is underpinned by Keating’s incisive observation of the cut and thrust of political life, seasoned with hilarious wit that filled the Playhouse with laughter. Neeme ensures that this is no dry presentation of an indulgent memoir. The mood is lightened by Biggins’ performance of My My My Delilah in homage to his hero Tom Jones or a vaudeville routine to Putting on the Ritz and a rendition of Sinatra’s That’s Life.. There are moments of tenderness as he cradles an eighteenth-century fob watch that he bought when a youth or utters a sombre reflection of the political life’s effect on family and the impact of the death of an adored father. Biggins avoids incursion into the personal life, but his performance ensures our empathy in the moments that reveal a man like any other man. In the extraordinary we can discover the ordinary that is common to all.

 Soft Tread’s production of The Gospel According to Paul – The Second Coming is a cautionary tale not to be missed. Biggins offers a brilliant funny, instructive and thoroughly entertaining performance as he unravels the complex nature of a man with simple ideals and the will to carry them through. It is a sermon worth hearing in today’s Parliament on the mount.

Photos by Brett Boardman 

 

 

 

 

 

DAISY PULLS IT OFF – Canberra Repertory

 

Daisy (Ashleigh Butler) - Antonia Kitzel (Miss Granville) & girls.

Written by Denise Deegan – Directed by Kate Blackhurst

Designed by Annie Kay – Lighting design by Nathan Sciberras

Sound Design by Nev Pye – Stage Manager: Ann-Maree Padarin

Rep Theatre 10-26^th September 2026.

Opening night performance on 11^th September reviewed by BILL STEPHENS.

The Library at Grangewood School for Girls - seated Daisy (Ashleigh Butler) - Trixie (Helen Noon)

In 1927 the staff and pupils of the exclusive Grangewood School for Girls are rocked by the arrival of its first ever scholarship pupil, the resourceful budding-adventuress, Daisy Merideth, played by Ashleigh Butler.

Daisy quickly finds a new best friend in Trixie Martin (Elaine Noon), who educates her in the secrets and traditions of Grangewood. But before she can be fully accepted into Grangewood, Daisy discovers she must overcome several challenges.

Can she outwit the diabolical machinations of the school’s arch-snob and general meanie, Sybil Burlington (Alex McPherson) and Sybil’s adoring acolyte, Monica Smithers (Kara Taylor)?

Can she discover the secret of the mysterious Russian music teacher, Mr Scoblowski (Sue Gore Phillips), or find the long-lost secret treasure of Grangewood and save the school?

Or most importantly of all, can Daisy help the school to victory in the all-important Hockey Club Final, given that she’s only learned to play hockey by reading a book?

If you know you won’t sleep until you find the answers to these pressing questions, your solution is to head to the Rep Theatre where all is revealed in its ripping production of Denise Deegan’s enticingly silly parody of the wholesome adventure stories of life in a 1920’s girl’s English boarding school.

Trixie (Helen Noon) - Claire Beaumont (Lily Welling) - Daisy (Ashleigh Butler)

This very British farce premiered in Southhampton in 1983, before moving to the Gielgud Theatre in London where it ran for 1,180 performances, following which it toured for another two years. Since then, it has become a popular choice for school productions.

Kate Blackhurst has taken her cue from this fact by staging her production as a school play introduced by the very proper headmistress, Miss Gibson (Azerie Cromhout), and performed by an all-female ensemble of 13 actors of widely varying ages who play all the roles.

In addition to those already mentioned, these include Ariana Barzinour, Alice Fitzpatrick, Rachel Howard, Antonia Kitzel, Jane O’Sullivan, Lily Welling and Jill Young.

Blackhurst keeps her cast busy with quirky stagings for key moments including Daisy’s train journey, the School Art Gallery, a cliff rescue, and the all-important hockey match, for which the cast bring with them any furniture and props necessary to indicate a sense of place on Annie Kay’s evocative but sparse static setting. All of which works a treat.

Miss Gibson (Azerie Cromhout) and the Grangewood School for Girls choir.

But despite the excellent production standards, the laugh-out-loud moments, and the witty sight gags, there appeared to be a disconnect as to the intention of the production.

In her director’s notes in the printed program, Blackhurst suggests the play has a political intent beyond its entertainment value. Yet her casting with a mixed-age cast, and her witty staging of many scenes seemed to work against that notion.

Several delightful comedic creations, especially Elaine Noon’s Trixie Martin, Antonia Kitzel’s Winnie Irving, Alex McPherson’s Sybil Burlington, and Azerie Cromhout’s very proper school mistress Miss Gibson, lean into the farcical elements of the play, as do the comic bellringer and the intentionally obvious beards for the two male characters, allowing outrageous plot twists to seem perfectly sensible.

Elsewhere, characters are played naturalistically, including Ashleigh Butler’s Daisy Meredith, setting up a stylistic confusion that flattens episodes that might have been funnier had the play been treated simply as a farce, rather than a political statement.     

 

                                                        Photos by Ross Gould

Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize (MCPP) 2026

Photography Review by Brian Rope

Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize (MCPP) 2026 (Various artists)

Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre (MRAC) - 13 August to 10 October 2026

2026 sees the 8^th Mullins Conceptual Photography Prize (MCPP), although it had other names in its early years.

The winner of this year’s $30,000 prize is Troy Ruffels for a digital print on Composite Aluminium, titled Architectures of Connection, 2026. It will be acquired and join all previous MCPP winners in the Muswellbrook Regional Arts Centre (MRAC) permanent collection of post-war contemporary paintings, ceramic and photography.

The artist statement explains the title, telling us that “what usually escapes perception appears as a fleeting architecture of connection.” It shows us fine strands revealing patterns of movement and explores how photography can reveal delicate yet resilient connections.

Troy Ruffels - Architectures of Connection, 2026, Digital Print on Composite Aluminium, 70 × 120 × 3 cm

The adjudicators also Highly Commended Jenny Pollak for ‘A line in the sand’ and Aidan Galeger for ‘Into the Sun’. Those works, and all the other selected finalists and their accompanying artist statements can be seen in a virtual gallery here.

As always when an exhibition’s artworks are by numerous entrants, I’ll now follow my practice of discussing just a selection of other exhibits I found most interesting.

Ann Vardanega’s artwork is part of a project about domestic and family violence. In this piece, the artist has successfully explored the concept of the environment as a place of regeneration. It is excellent to have an artist responding to an incredibly important issue.

Ann Vardanega - Spirit of the Land 2, 2025, digital inkjet print on cotton rag paper, framed

David Bignell’s ‘Reflecting’ looks at a person through an apparently moving train’s window. His concept is that by showing a blurred figure amidst reflections from inside and outside the window, he is showing us something of how our memories are often what determines how we see ourselves. I related strongly to this because reflections in and through windows are a significant part of my own photography - although I have never thought about my work in the way Bignell has done. 

David Bignell - Reflecting, 2026, Inkjet print on Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Gloss 

Another artwork addressing a most important issue is by Julie Millowick. Its title clearly identifies the issue – plastic in waterways being ingested by marine life, thus causing the marine consumer’s death. Noting that plastic pollution has become endemic, the artist photographs plastic bags so they seem to be in waterways and so the created visual beauty hides the toxic impact.

Julie Millowick, Plastic in waterways is consumed by marine life who perceive it as algae or jellyfish_3, 2025, Digital Image, Inkjet print on 100% Cotton Rag

Lilli Waters is a Thai-Australian. Here she has explored her Thai heritage and ancestral mythology. The underwater still-life intertwines plants, flowers, and fish. The resultant meditative scene reflects Waters’ pre-occupation with the natural world in the context of her cultural memory. Essentially an autobiographical landscape, this is a most attractive visual artwork. Printing it on fibre rag adds to its beauty.

Lilli Waters - Nāga’s Lanterns โคมไฟของนาค, 2025, archival pigment print on fibre rag

Peter Charuk’s video artwork engages with a landscape where cane is grown. He has recorded a rapidly changing landscape. The outcome is an excellent contribution to discussion about the significantly important issue of climate change. It challenges us to ask ourselves what the social implications of our human use of the landscape are.

Peter Charuk – Collateral Atmospherics 28 18’ 51’’ S 153 26’ 4’’ E, 2026, single-channel video, colour, sound (stereo)

Rebecca Polonski’s ‘Un-Becoming’ addresses yet another important social issue in today’s world. The artist has done this by using negative images and excluding elements that she did not wish to show. Lichen on one side of the artwork draws our attention away from the face on the opposite side. This portrays the feelings of today’s youth that are overlooked or pushed to the fringes of our crowded world. The artist statement says that over time the cloth on which the piece is printed will weather and the youngster will gradually disappear. Of course, or young selves all do that as we age.

Rebecca Polonski – Un-Becoming, 2026, Pigmented ink on linen

The final exhibit I will mention is by Sandra Barnard. Her artist statement reveals it is a camera-less photograph made by exposing photographic paper inside an enlarger’s bellows. She has put various objects into that space and exposed them directly. In the resultant “reversed” image, the subject has become the film and the print is, in effect, the negative. The artwork references William Henry Fox Talbot's 1844 negative-positive photographic process and, specifically, that artist’s work 'Articles of Glass'

Sandra Barnard - That Might Look Good in My Enlarger II – Cruets CMYKRGB, 2025, Hand printed Chromogenic Photograph

Go see this exhibition if you can. And study the works and artist statements closely online.

This review is also available on the author's blog.

 

 

 

ECHOES OF HUMANITY - NCO

 

National Capital Orchestra

Louis Sharpe, conductor

Lucas Krupinski, solo piano

Llewellyn Hall, September 12

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

Joining forces with the St Vincent de Paul Society, Canberra/Goulburn, the National Capital Orchestra presented a charity concert to help support people in our region experiencing hardship.

Echoes of Humanity described perfectly the emotive and famous works presented. That they were also a formidable challenge to perform created quite a sense of anticipation before the concert began.

Conducted by Louis Sharpe, the program commenced with the much-loved Piano Concerto No. 2 by Sergei Rachmaninov.

The piano was played by Lucas Krupinski. This British-Polish pianist made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2018 and has appeared with major orchestras across Asia, Europe and North America. He has also won many competitions. He performed at the Canberra International Music Festival in 2022.

Lucas Krupinski, piano

From the outset, Krupinski’s playing was notable for its sensitivity, bringing out the richness in the melodies while stirring heightened emotions. The orchestra, guided by Sharpe, played confidently and with great clarity. Together, Krupinski and the orchestra gave this work an excellent performance, showing why this work’s fame has endured since its first full performance in 1901. It was thrilling to have the opportunity to experience it live.

National Capital Orchestra

After interval, Louis Sharpe and the orchestra returned to play another possibly even more formidable work – Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 (Titan). Premiered in 1889, this deeply personal work is also highly emotional. It required a large orchestra to play, and Louis Sharpe advised the audience that the orchestra on stage was the largest ever for the company.

Lucas Krupinski, piano and Louis Sharpe, conductor

From its quiet beginning, the orchestra showed great control. Through the various melodies and dramatic passages, they brought out all the shifting emotions of the work with enormous clarity and strength. There was particularly fine work by the French horns and the bassoons, and every part of the orchestra gave Mahler’s work a rousing performance of which they should all feel proud.

This was an exhilarating concert of two highly challenging works. Louis Sharpe, the orchestra and Lucas Krupinski made this an event to remember.

 

Photos by Peter Hislop

 

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 13 September 2026.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

Len Power also presents the weekly Concert Hall program on Artsound FM, playing recordings of some of the best concerts from in and around Canberra. Concert Hall can be heard on Sundays at 8pm and is repeated on Wednesdays at 2pm.

DAISY PULLS IT OFF

 

Written by Denise Deegan

Directed by Kate Blackhurst

Canberra REP production at the Canberra REP Theatre, Acton to 26 September

 

 

Reviewed by Len Power 11 September 2026

 

It’s a rare play that gives 13 women, no men, a chance to play a set of colourful characters in a parody of a ‘Girls Own’ adventure in the style of the much-loved fiction of Angela Brazil, Ellinor Brent-Dyer and Enid Blyton.

 

Set in 1927 England in the elite Grangewood School for Young Ladies, Daisy Meredith, the first scholarship student, has to deal with practical jokes, snobbery and hockey while pluckily managing to solve a mystery at the same time.

 

This mystery story is performed as a play probably written by the school’s students themselves. As expected in a school play, props are minimal. The passing scenery outside a train window and the framed school portraits are particularly imaginative and amusing.

 

The characters are mostly schoolgirls with a couple of staff members, and they are played by actors of all ages. As part of the play, a couple of “male” characters turn up with false beards and moustaches to add to the fun.

Ashleigh Butler (Daisy) and Alex McPherson (Sybil)

This play is a golden opportunity for actors to play the characters encountered in this type of period fiction. Everyone has their moment and there are some outstanding performances. Ashleigh Butler as Daisy is a fine heroine filled with determination and moral courage. Alex McPherson plays Sybil Burlington, the nasty snob, with relish and the best performance in the show is Elaine Noon as the eccentric best friend, Trixie Martin. Noon shows a true understanding of the style required with her particularly uninhibited and delightful playing.

The play seemed a bit long and wordy for what it is and the pace was a bit slow at times. However, this is a funny play and a nostalgic dive back into the literature that people of a certain age grew up with.

 

Photo by Alex Unikowski

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

 

ARCADIAN SPRING - MUSICA DA CAMERA

 

Musica Da Camera String Orchestra

John Ma, musical director

Holy Covenant Church, Cook, September 5

 

Reviewed by Len Power

 

It might not have looked like spring outside, but Musica Da Camera ensured their concert showed us the promise and glory that the season can offer.

With a thoughtful and apt collection of music works by Bach, Fischer, Scarlatti, Telemann and Vivaldi, this spring concert, directed by Early Music specialist, John Ma, was a delight for the senses.

Violinist, John Ma, gave entertaining and educational information about the chosen works and he was really in fine form with this concert. He could make anyone love baroque music.

The program commenced with Alessandro Scarlatti’s Sinfonia suite from Clori, Dorino e Amore. With harpsichordist, Ariana Odermatt, Ma led the orchestra in a spirited playing of this work with its grand opening, elegant melodies and charming rhythms.

Ariana Odermatt, harpsichordist

Ouverture Burlesque by Georg Philipp Telemann was next. Burlesque in the 18^th century saw music provoke laughter through parody or cartoonish exaggeration. The work provided musical portraits of Commedia del Arte characters such as Scaramouches, Harlequinade, Colombine and Pierrot. Ma’s colourful descriptions of these characters provided a welcome and amusing depth to the music.

John Ma with Musica Da Camera

The orchestra then played Bach’s sparkling Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor. This was a wonderfully clear and graceful playing of this timeless work. In three movements, Ma and the orchestra excelled with a particularly beautiful and sensitive playing of the central Andante. It was the highlight of the concert.

The next work, Vivaldi’s Concerto for Strings in B-flat major (Conca) was inspired by the strings mimicking the resonant blasts of a conch shell. It was a good example of the Baroque era’s spirit of experimentation and everyone clearly had fun playing it.

Johann Fischer, a German composer, was a good choice for spring with his 3^rd Suite from Le Journal du Printemps. The elegance of the French Court style blended with the contrapuntal traditions of German music and this fine work was very well played.

Telemann’s Excerpts from Die Satyn in Arcadien was the final work on the program. The introduction was rhythmic and full of atmosphere and the dances in the second half were witty, colourful and rousing. They were played with gusto and skill by Ma and the orchestra. By the end, there was definitely a feeling of spring in the air.

 

Photos by Dalice Trost

 

This review was first published by Canberra CityNews digital edition on 6 September 2026.

Len Power's reviews are also broadcast on Artsound FM 92.7 in the ‘Arts Cafe’ and ‘Arts About’ programs and published in his blog 'Just Power Writing' at https://justpowerwriting.blogspot.com/.

Len Power also presents the weekly Concert Hall program on Artsound FM, playing recordings of some of the best concerts from in and around Canberra. Concert Hall can be heard on Sundays at 8pm and is repeated on Wednesdays at 2pm.