“Facts are negotiable,” declares essayist John D’Agata. But for Jim Fingal, a young intern who has been charged with fact-checking one of D’Agata’s essays, a fact is a fact and needs to be accurately presented, otherwise it’s fiction.

Charles Wu, Sigrid Thornton, Gareth Davies and Maria Alfonsine in The Lifespan of a Fact, Sydney Theatre Company, 2022. Photo © Prudence Upton

Playing with the facts is a betrayal of journalistic integrity, argues Jim. For John, it’s all to do with the rhythm of the writing, and the emotional impact of what he sees as art rather than journalism. Both claim that their views represent “the truth”; and it is this debate between the two men, each holding resolutely to their position, around which the comedy drama The Lifespan of a Fact takes shape.

When the play premiered on Broadway in 2018, it was billed as “a new play on a true-ish story”. In 2003, the real John D’Agata was commissioned by Harper’s Magazine to write an essay that examined the culture of suicide in Las Vegas, following the death in 2002 of a teenage boy who had...