'Purpose', STC - Wharf 1 TheatreSydney Theatre Company - Wharf Theatres 12:00 am
The question of meaning has long shaped the human condition, at once a source of existential anxiety and a catalyst for some of the world’s most powerful artistic expression. For some, purpose is not pursued but inherited – something life quietly unfolds in its own time, revealing itself only in hindsight. For others, it is a relentless obsession, a restlessness that has driven monks, scholars and countless others towards faith, philosophy and protest in the hope of naming and securing it. Whatever the path, one thing remains certain: purpose is a question that sits within all of us.
Sydney Theatre Company has built a reputation for championing African American voices, staging landmark works by writers such as August Wilson (Fences, 2023) and Lorraine Hansberry (A Raisin in the Sun, 2022). While those productions connected Australian audiences with enduring American classics, Purpose offers a voice unmistakably of the present, one grappling with the complexity of living in a world that is hyper-aware of itself.
The play premiered on Broadway in the 2024-25 season, winning the 2025 Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It's rare for Australian audiences to encounter work with such immediacy; more often, international successes arrive years after their debut. Its programming signals that new artistic director Mitchell Butel may be shaping a tenure characterised by currency. At a moment when conversations around race, human rights, identity, politics and purpose feel increasingly urgent, this production – under the safe, skilled hand of Director Zindzi Okenyo – insists those conversations are global.
What is the premise of Purpose?
Purpose by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins is a sharp family drama about legacy, identity and moral pressure. The play centres on the Jasper family, a prominent Black American dynasty led by Reverend Solomon Jasper Senior (Markus Hamilton), a celebrated civil rights figure. Alongside his wife Claudine (Deni Gordon), he has built a public image rooted in faith, political activism, and respectability.
When their adult sons return home, unresolved tensions quickly surface. Solomon Junior (Maurice Marvel Meredith) struggles with the burden of living up to his father’s expectations, while Nazareth (Tinashe Mangwana, who also is the narrator) more openly questions the family’s rigid beliefs and carefully maintained public persona. The arrival of Nazareth’s friend, Aziza (Sisi Stringer) brings truths to the surface. As the gathering unfolds, secrets and contradictions emerge, exposing hypocrisy beneath the family’s polished reputation. Through confrontations filled with humour and intensity, the characters grapple with faith, sexuality, power, and personal freedom.
What are the highlights of Purpose?
Jacobs-Jenkins has crafted characters who serve as vessels for some of modern society’s most urgent questions. He explores the struggles of young people grappling with identity, sexuality, meaning and faith, while also capturing the weight of collective expectation. His characters are deeply flawed, yet they are also failed by a system designed to oppress them. Through conversational, often argumentative dialogue, Jacobs-Jenkins balances the personal and the systemic, exposing how our sense of self, ambition and belonging is constantly shaped, constrained and tested by forces beyond our control – all without letting his characters off the hook for their own choices.
Despite these weighty themes, the text is humorous, and the narrator-driven approach keeps the audience fully engaged. Through these tools, and the sheer drama of Jacobs-Jenkins’ writing, the two-and-a-half-hour performance flies by.
Okenyo and her brilliant company of actors lean equally into the play’s humour and drama, turning familiar tropes on their head and continually surprising the audience. Hamilton is enigmatic as the patriarch, moving seamlessly from stern authority to surprising sensitivity, all while remaining relatable, a performance that speaks to anyone who has ever felt the weight of a legacy behind them.
The sons, played vividly by Mangwana and Meredith, are equally vivid, portraying complex men each striving for approval and acceptance in their own way. Mangwana is a present narrator, responding to audience reactions whilst keeping the show on track. Grace Bentley-Tisbuah, as Solomon Jr.’s wife, is a revelation: a breath of fresh air whose comedic timing is masterful. She may have the fewest spoken lines, yet she is unforgettable, effortlessly blending sass with moments of genuine heart, resonating with anyone who has ever felt trapped, deceived or overlooked.
Who is Purpose for?
Every Australian will see pieces of their own story reflected in Purpose; in the families we love, the expectations we wrestle with, and the search for meaning that defines our lives. The play’s themes are intimate yet universal, resonating across generations.
Purpose is on now until March 22 at the Sydney Theatre Company's Wharf 1 Theatre. Book tickets over here.
