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PURPOSE

PURPOSE

Overview

In an exciting coup, the most awarded new American play of 2025 is heading this way. Fresh from winning the 2025 Tony Award for Best Play, the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2025 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, Purpose comes directly from Broadway to Sydney Theatre Company in the first new production to be staged since its premiere.

An influential African American family stands firmly on the highest pedestal of American politics; producing congressmen, celebrity pastors and civil rights leaders. But when their estranged, youngest son, Nazareth, returns home with an uninvited house guest, decades of secrets and unresolved tensions threaten to topple their empire.

Channelling great American playwrights from Arthur Miller to Tracy Letts (August: Osage County), Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' (Appropriate) masterstroke is “a sparring match, crackling with sharp punchlines, pulling us into an all-out brawl” (New York Magazine).

Directed by Zindzi Okenyo (Sweat) and featuring actors Grace Bentley-Tsibuah, Deni Gordon, Markus Hamilton, Tinashe Mangwana, Maurice Marvel Meredith and Sisi Stringer, Purpose is a “merciless dissection of hypocrisy – you may have trouble catching your breath from laughing so hard” (The New York Times).

“Brilliant and funny and serious and complex and powerful”
Oprah Winfrey

Creative

Director

Zindzi Okenyo

Designer

Jeremy Allen

Lighting Designer

Kelsey Lee

Composer & Sound Designer

James Peter Brown

Fight Director

Diego Retamales

Dialect Coach

Rachel Finley

Voice & Text Director

Charmian Gradwell

Marketing Image

Holly Ward

This listing is updated as cast and creatives are confirmed in the lead-up to the production, and if there are any changes to the team. Ensure you have the most up-to-date information about each play by opting in to our enews.


Partners

Production Patrons

Rosie Williams & John Grill AO


Venue Details

No venues found

Event Details

Season
2 Feb - 22 Mar 2026
Approx. Duration
3 hrs, including interval
Content
Strong language, mature themes including attempted suicide, complete theatrical blackouts, theatrical haze and gunshot.
Performance start times
Preview performances – 7:30pm
In-season evening performances – Mon & Tue 6:30pm; Wed–Sat 7:30pm
Matinee performances – Wed 1:00pm; Sat 1:30pm; Sun 2:00pm

Duration and content are subject to change.


Save up to 20% with a Season Ticket

Season Ticket Packages (3 - 13 plays) are on sale now. Enjoy a range of benefits and save up to 20% on tickets.