Jonathan Biggins has tuned into the zeitgeist with his new play Talk, which looks at modern journalism, and the impact of social media and the 24-hour news cycle. It’s clearly a hot-button subject in this post-truth, Trumpian world of “alternative facts”, and there was lots of animated discussion in the opening night foyer about the issues raised.

^{John Waters, Helen Christinson, Lucia Mastrantone, Andrew Tighe and Valerie Bader in Talk. Photograph © Brett Boardman}

There are some terrific performances and the production is well staged but the play itself, which Biggins himself directs for Sydney Theatre Company, is not great drama. Instead, it feels as if the thinly drawn characters are all there to represent a different side of the debate.. As a satire, it lacks genuine bite and insight, and there aren’t a huge number of laughs. In many ways, it is not dissimilar to some of David Williamson’s more recent comedies – which audiences invariably seem to enjoy more than critics.

Talk unfolds across three different media organisations on a clever two-tier set by designer Mark Thompson. Atop the stage is a commercial radio station where right-wing, talkback shock-jock John...