A talk radio announcer names a ‘pedophile,’ is responsible for starting a riot, and breaks all the format boundaries, while still plugging his good friends the sponsors.
Sound familiar.
John Waters’ character in the new play TALK is a combination of Derryn Hinch, Alan Jones, John Laws and other Aussie talk radio shock jocks.
Talk opens with the police sauntering into John Behan’s (Waters) radio station just as he is closing his show. They are there to arrest him for contempt of court after he named a supposed child molester in the previous day’s show.
Behan is too quick for them and locks himself in the studio, going live and telling his listeners what is happening. The live broadcast, controlled completely by Behan in the studio, bypassing the panel operator, producer and delay system, sets off a chain of events that has other media, and the city’s population, breathlessly following the events that unfold.
In a brilliantly designed set, where the radio studio and control room are placed above two other media newsrooms, the action switches between the radio station, an ABC Newsroom and a tabloid newspaper editor’s office. Stings of familiar music by the Masters Apprentices and Neil Diamond, along with sharp lighting changes help the transitions between scenes.
As John Behan talks to ministers, listeners and eventually the state Premier, editors in the ABC Radio and Murdoch tabloid newspaper offices follow developments, while looking for a unique twist they can bring to the story to make it their own.
The Murdoch editor debates the best angle for her front page, but she refuses to take aim at Behan, because he is a columnist for the newspaper.
In the ABC Newsroom, Taffy, a seasoned radio journo of the old school, will retire at the end of his last news shift that day. His fellow reporter on that day’s shift is a Gen Y millennial who doesn’t know who Marconi is and doesn’t care, because she is “pretty sure he was dead before the internet,” so he is probably irrelevant.
The play is full of satirical lines that help explore the relationship between media and government, and debate the tension between reporters who check facts and those who just read it on twitter. The dialog is littered with sexism, racism and politically incorrect statements, just like talk radio, that explore the tension in the themes.
In the ABC newsroom Taffy listens horrified at John Behan’s gall – he has broken the law and revealed inadmissible details about the accused but now he is claiming to be the one wronged by the law and the cops as he continues to broadcast live to air from his locked studio.
Meanwhile, Taffy’s youthful digital reporter is following the story on Twitter and blogging about it. To her it’s all about what is happening now, but not about the background that brought the story to this point.
“I think we can assume he did it… it’s even got a hashtag,” she says
“There’s such a thing as due process,” says Taffy, failing to convince the digital producer.
“Twitter has exploded,” she says to Taffy. “I hope so,” he replies…. “we’ve got the who, what, when covered, let’s focus on the why.”
In this new Australian play, writer and director Jonathan Biggins sets his eyes squarely on modern journalism, social media and the 24-hour news cycle. In a world where ‘alternative facts’ threaten to trump due process, the questions posed by Biggins in Talk are more urgent than ever. Are journalists still looking for the truth? When everyone has a megaphone at their fingertips, is anyone actually listening?
Jonathan Biggins is familiar with radio. It shows in his writing, characters and direction. The sharp dialog and understanding of the issues facing media today, especially radio, struck a chord with the audience who laughed at the humour and gasped at the twists in all the right places at tonight’s performance.
You don’t have to work in radio to enjoy this play, but if you do, it will ring even more true. You will recognize friends, colleagues and rivals in the cast and will empathise with all the issues.
I enjoyed it and highly recommend it to radioinfo readers.
TALK is on until 20th May at the Drama Theatre of the Sydney Opera House. And, if you attend the play, buy the program, it is full of short topical articles about changes to media that make good reading.
Booking details here.
Reviewer: Steve Ahern