Things I Know to be True – review by Rosie Wilkinson
On Wednesday 21st September, I went to go and see Frantic Assembly’s play Things I Know to be True at Lyric Hammersmith theatre in London, written and produced by Andrew Bovell. To describe this play in one word I would say it was ‘shocking’ because it reveals shocking truths that the Price family have to reveal.The set, at the beginning, is empty, up to the point where Rosie is performing her monologue about her heartbreak while on her European adventure. She talks about going back home and describes her back garden. As each item is mentioned, it is brought out and set in place as the background. The interesting thing about this set is that it never changes because everything happens in the back garden, symbolizing ‘home truths’ and unbelievable family revelations.
Physical Theatre is a huge element in this play – particularly in Rosie’s monologue when she describes how it felt to be in love. Other cast member picked her up to convey how weightless she felt when with her lover. This was effective because it not only made the image fascinating to watch, but made the audience picture how happy, at the time the character felt.
However, although this is an emotional play it also has moments of humor which, I my opinion is vital when there are sad moments (particularly the ending). This is because it lightens the mood and encourages the audience before another bad part comes along. This is effective as it makes the audience think ‘maybe this time there will be a good part coming up’ or ‘maybe the ending will have a happy one’. I believe they did this to make shocking moments be shocking to the audience, because if they all come at once then the audience will just be expecting bad news – making the purpose of the play pointless.
On the other hand, to create mood and effect, lighting has a big impact on the mood in each scene. In the play, there’s a point where Bob and Fran are dancing which shows how strong their marriage is and how, even when there is so much going on, they can still be loving and romantic towards each other. The lights above are lit a bright gold to represent the warm gold, glowing feeling they feel when together. It exposes the romance in an intimate way; the audience are able to be with them in this peaceful moment, aside from all the tragedies and worry. They also use lighting when a sad moment is happening – particularly when Fran dies in a tragic car accident and all of the children discover the death of the woman who loved them dearly. They put spotlights on each child as they say their part; no other lighting on the stage, just transfixed on them. I believe this is to represent how closed in they feel, with no mother to comfort them, to give them advice and to love them. It conveys how they feel alone with their thoughts and how they feel like they have no one to confide to anymore, because that person is gone and for the first time, they are without a mother.
Monologues take a big chunk out of the play for a reason, to make you feel closer to the character and understand their situation more because with each story (apart from Rosie’s) there is conflict with the parents. It enables the audience to have a positive look upon the character. An example of this is the character Pip, where she explains, in her monologue how she is unhappy with the way her life has turned out and how she does not love her husband, and more importantly how she is going to leave him and her two daughters. This makes you sympathize and condone her actions – which is confusing because there is no excuse for anyone to leave their children to do what they want to do. But because of Pip’s powerful and persuasive monologue, this enables the audience to pity her and disagree with her Mother who strongly disagrees with her leaving her husband and daughters to live in Canada to follow her career and not stay and raise her family to be stronger and happier.
Proxemics was obvious in the style of the theatre piece to convey relationships and situations. An example of this is the relationship between siblings Mark and Rosie – the closest relationship in the family. This was shown through how close physically they were together. However, when Mark reveals he wants to live life as a woman and because he hasn’t confided in Rosie, she stands far away from him – implying that she no longer knows the brother she was close with.
To conclude, this play makes the audience question their own family situations and wonder what it would be like to lose someone so close to them as fast as the Price family lost Fran with no warning. I also enjoyed the conflict that were presented that other families face every single day, like when Mark revealed himself as a transgender. However, the incredible physical theatre that was involved communicated the different scenarios that were given to the audience. With shocking revelations, important messages and morals to follow, Things I Know to be True give humor and sadness giving audience members an important message: Is it possible to love too much?
Rosie x
