‘Paul Keating’ eyeballs his audience and, in that familiar gruff tone, says, “Why am I here? I’ll tell you why I’m here. Let this evening be a reminder of what political leadership actually looks like” | NickdMiller comedy theatre
’s first visit to Melbourne but Biggins says plenty of politicians have seen the show. He’s done Keating for the Australian Labor Party caucus staff dinner and it went down well . Amanda Vanstone came to one Sunday matinee.“He came and saw it at the Opera House with Anne and the first thing he said [afterwards] was ‘Thankyou for being so generous’,” says Biggins. “But it’s completely unauthorised. It’s the first unauthorised autobiography.
Biggins has been doing political satire since the surge in the form on TV in the 1980s, when he joined the great Patrick Cook , Phillip Scott and Geoff Kelso – fresh from their groundbreaking. It was only 10 episodes long but made a big impact, including a mock interview with Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini that resulted in two diplomats being expelled from Tehran.But then-treasurer Keating didn’t feature much in the show, says Biggins. “I don’t think he felt like he does now.
“Love him or loathe him, people respect him. He was one of the last who were able to do what they said they were going to do.”Biggins says he wanted to turn the idea into something more than a series of sketches, to “take on a greater dimension” and reach back into Keating’s early family life, his marriage and the death of his father. He read books on Keating, consulted his friend and Keating speechwriter Don Watson, and looked for insights into “how he thinks and what his term in office meant”.
“The greatest gift you have doing that character is that he was funny himself, he was acerbic. You can write putdowns and jokes and pepper them with his [own] as well.”was “a love poem to him, really, and we’re trying to avoid that” – so he touches on criticisms of Keating’s policies, hubris and haughtiness.“But I think ultimately,” says Biggins, “he was pretty damn good, and compared to now he was extremely good.
The show played for two sold-out weeks at the heart of former PM Tony Abbott’s old electorate, he says. “Love him or loathe him, people respect him. He was one of the last who were able to do what they said they were going to do.”“When people are worried about what’s going to happen in the next five minutes... [when] no matter what you do you will be criticised within seconds... it’s impossible to have any nuanced argument.”“Well, I don’t know. But it would be a fairly short show.
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