Caligula on the Potomac Puts Trump and Rome on Sydney’s Stage

The Sydney Opera House will place Donald Trump beside one of ancient Rome’s most infamous emperors when Caligula on the Potomac arrives at 10:30am on Sunday, 4 October 2026. The 60-minute Curious conversation will ask whether political spectacle, personal branding and attacks on convention have permanently changed the American presidency.

It is a discussion, not a Roman drama. American journalist and screenwriter Gabriel Sherman, former BBC United States correspondent Nick Bryant and Sydney journalist Julia Baird will examine how power is performed when entertainment becomes part of public office.

The session has a single listed time and uses unreserved seating. Tickets cost $39, with an $8.95 booking fee per transaction, so people planning to attend together should arrive early and buy through the Sydney Opera House, the only authorised ticket agency.

The comparison is deliberately provocative. The event description links the White House lawn being used for UFC fights with the gladiatorial games staged by Roman emperors, while asking whether institutions can absorb a leader who treats attention as a form of authority.

Gabriel Sherman brings reporting on the relationship between media power and political celebrity to the conversation. He has covered the Murdoch family since 2008, wrote The Loudest Voice in the Room about former Fox News chief Roger Ailes and wrote the screenplay for The Apprentice.

Nick Bryant offers a longer view of American politics. During his BBC career, he covered every US president from Bill Clinton through Donald Trump, as well as the September 11 attacks, the war in Afghanistan and Barack Obama’s election.

Julia Baird will moderate. Her work across the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and the ABC, together with her writing on history, leadership, media and public morality, gives the discussion an Australian frame rather than leaving it as a conventional Trump biography talk.

The event description quotes former NBC chief marketing officer John Miller, as quoted by Sherman in Vanity Fair, warning that America could lose the country familiar to its citizens. The line captures the session’s central concern: whether political systems can restore institutional norms after personality and spectacle have become central to public life.

Historical comparisons need care. Caligula ruled an ancient imperial system, while Trump operates within a modern presidential democracy, so the value of the analogy lies in examining recurring patterns of performance and power rather than treating the two political systems as identical.

The conversation belongs to a long Sydney Opera House tradition of public argument. Chip Rolley, the venue’s Head of Talks and Ideas, said the Curious program includes eight events across three venues addressing urgent questions facing society.

The 4 October opening day of Curious is a concentrated cluster of conversations across the Opera House, while the wider program runs until 4 November 2026. Other listed sessions include Can it Happen Here?, One Revolution After Another and Where’s the AI Off Switch?, allowing visitors to build a broader ideas-focused morning.

For anyone travelling from outside the CBD, Circular Quay is the practical interchange. Trains on the T2, T3 and T8 lines, light rail services L2 and L3, buses and ferries including F1 Manly and F9 Watsons Bay connect with the precinct, which is a seven-to-10-minute walk from the Opera House.

Allow at least 20 minutes for the walk, security screening and finding the Western Foyers. The Drama Theatre sits in the north-western corner of the building, so arriving at the Concert Hall or Joan Sutherland Theatre entrances could add an avoidable detour.

Driving is possible but less convenient around the busy harbourside precinct. Wheelchair and companion seating are available through the Box Office on 1300 764 849 or by email, and visitors who need those arrangements should contact the venue before relying on unreserved seating.

The discussion can become part of a full Circular Quay visit. Opera Bar opens from 11am on Sundays, while the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney, the Museum of Sydney, the Museum of Contemporary Art, The Rocks and the Harbour Bridge are all accessible from the precinct.

The session begins at 10:30am on 4 October and is suitable for all ages, with children aged 15 and under required to be accompanied. Its question will remain open after the seats empty: whether the theatre of modern politics can be separated from the institutions it is meant to serve.