CREATIVE TEAM DIRECTOR JONATHAN BIGGINS
DESIGNER MARK THOMPSON
LIGHTING DESIGNER TRENT SUIDGEEST
COMPOSER & SOUND DESIGNER STEVE FRANCIS
BELINDA STEELE VALERIE BADER
PC FOWLER HELEN CHRISTINSON
DANIELLE ROWESTHORNE PAIGE GARDINER
TAFFY CAMPBELL PETER KOWITZ
CALUDIA BENNETT/ANDREA KERR LUCIA MASTRANTONE
SYNOPSIS Talk is set across three locations around Sydney: a commercial radio broadcast studio; an office of the public radio broadcaster; and the editor’s office of a major newspaper. Yesterday, talkback radio host John Behan shared with his listeners the criminal record of an alleged sex offender, Charles Turner, whose case was being tried. This public revelation meant the trial had to be aborted. Today, as the police come to arrest him for contempt of court, Behan locks himself in his studio and continues to broadcast live. Meanwhile, at the public broadcaster, 38-year veteran journalist Taffy Campbell has his last day in the office. As Behan’s defiance of the police becomes known, Taffy and his junior colleague Danielle Rowesthorne begin following the story.
At the same time, newspaper editor Julie Scott and journalists Max Gardner and David Senridge look into the background of the man accused of the sexual assault, Charles Turner, as well as into his de facto, Candice Brickwell, and her daughter, the alleged victim, Roxannay. Behan continues to broadcast and take calls on air. As more details emerge, some of those listening and following on social media take matters into their own hands. Julie Scott and her colleagues stoke the outrage, while Taffy Campbell and his team do their own investigative work. But as the story gathers an allbut-unstoppable speed, who’ll take stock and pause to unearth the truth?
DIRECTOR JONATHAN BIGGINS— WRITER & DIRECTOR
ASHLEY JARMAN/DAVID SENRIDGE KENNETH MORALEDA
MAX GARDNER/DARREN PAISLEY/PETER DAVIS ANDREW TIGHE
JULIE SCOTT HANNAH WATERMAN
JOHN BEHAN JOHN WATERS
DI COCHRANE/RHYS BEN WOOD
PRODUCTION MANAGER KATE CHAPMAN
HAIR, WIG & WARDROBE SUPERVISOR LAUREN A. PROIETTI
STAGE MANAGER
SOUND OPERATOR
MINKA STEVENS
JASON JONES
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
PRODUCTION PHOTOGRAPHER
KATIE HANKIN
BRETT BOARDMAN
Jonathan is a writer, performer and director whose career runs the gamut from stage and television acting to revue and musicals, and television presenting. For Sydney Theatre Company, Jonathan has previously written Australia Day and cowritten The Republic of Myopia, which he also directed. He directed Michael Frayn’s Noises Off in 2014 and featured in STC productions The White Guard, Travesties, Ying Tong – A Walk with the Goons, Soulmates and Summer Rain. Jonathan has also been involved in many Wharf Revues as a writer, performer and co-director, including Back to Bite You, Celebrating 15 Years, Open for Business, Whoops!, Red Wharf: Beyond the Rings of Satire, Debt Defying Acts!, Not Quite Out of the Woods, Pennies From Kevin, Waiting for Garnaut, Best We Forget, Stuff All Happens, Concert for Tax Relief, Much Revue About Nothing and Sunday in Iraq with George.
Elsewhere, Jonathan co-wrote and performed in the smash-hit revues Three Men and a Baby Grand, which had a successful run on the Edinburgh Fringe and was broadcast on ABC Television, and its sequels, Abroad with Two Men and The Best Bits of That Broad and Those Men. For the Hunter Valley Theatre Company, he appeared in West Side Story, The Man from Mukinupin, Essington Lewis – I am Work, and Hamlet on Ice. In musical comedy, Jonathan has starred in The Venetian Twins (QTC), The Mikado (State Opera of South Australia and Opera Queensland), and as Hysterium in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Essgee Productions). His radio, film and television credits include: The Dingo Principle, Noah’s Ark, World Series Debating, Good News Week, The Party Machine, Thank God He Met Lizzie, and Those Dear Departed. His writing includes Australia Day, As it Were, The 700 Habits of Highly Ineffective People and The 700 Habits of Highly Ineffective Parents. He received the 2010 Helpmann Award for Direction of a Musical for Avenue Q.
Helen Christinson and Andrew Tighe Production pictures by Brett Boardman
S TC P RODUC TION P A TRON : The Petre Foundation
31 MAY – 3 JUNE 2017 L IVE ON AI R , ST I RRIN G U P T ROUBLE , HE’ S N OT G O I NG T O ST OP – N O M AT T ER WH O GET S HU R T Peter Kowitz and Ben Wood D IREC TO R Jonathan Biggins DESIGN ER Mark Thompson LIGHTIN G DESIGN ER Trent Suidgeest COMP OSER & SOUN D DESIGN ER Steve Francis WITH Valerie Bader, Helen Christinson, Paige Gardiner, Peter Kowitz, Lucia Mastrantone, Kenneth Moraleda, Andrew Tighe, Hannah Waterman, John Waters and Ben Wood
B Y JON ATHAN B IG G IN S CANBERRA THEATRE CENTRE PRESENTS A SYDNEY THEATRE COMPANY PRODUCTION
OONN AAIIRR