Most drama, that most of us see, is old. We venerate the classics: we are amused by period pieces. The novelty of Stoppard, Frayn and Hare has become comfortable.

So who is playwright Mike Bartlett and what is Earthquakes In London?

Earthquakes is a very new play, first produced at the National Theatre in 2010 and is so unnervingly new that you might be watching Sky News.

Every single contemporary concern is on stage – autistic spectra, paedophilia, airport expansion, Google, traffic cones, cryogenics, famine, global warming and depleted energy resources – illustrated, acted, sung, danced and sent up.

The Headlong Theatre Company had a ball. Their breathtakingly versatile troupe play combination roles of black activist drop-out, porn star student, corrupt corporation and demented pregnant, dead wife.

Everybody acted, danced and sang their hearts out: it was loud, exciting and brilliant.

Etymologically, “epic” theatre invokes Greek drama, but it is the opposite. Largely initiated by Brecht in the 1920s, it swaps narrative thread for episodic shock. Chronology becomes chaos. Earthquakes did have a story but it never stayed on the line, and it did have characters but in the past, the present and the future.

Sets were a miracle of blank stage and back projection which allowed maps of Scotland, animated graphics, unborn babies, computer screens and London streets. Revolving sections moved the action from the opening cosy bistro to intensive care.

What was it all about? Does it matter? It made us think, gasp, laugh and turn the lights off.