THINGS I KNOW TO BE TRUE

OSO Arts Centre

★★★★

“A heady mix of dialogue and monologue, the play is perceptive and dramatic but funny too”

Andrew Bovell’s play, “Things I Know To Be True”, is framed by a phone call. It is after midnight when the phone is ringing. Sixty-three-year-old Bob, the father of four grown up children and husband to Fran, hesitates. He fears picking up the receiver. He knows something is wrong. Someone he loves is in trouble. The four children, bathed in shadowy light, speak Bob’s fears aloud.

Cut to Berlin. A winter coat. A travel bag. And a broken heart. Rosie, the youngest child, is overseas but has decided to go back home. She has come to realise that ‘the things I know to be true’ is a very short list indeed. What follows is a heart-rending, heart-warming and intimate story of family life, family resilience, the passage from childhood to adulthood and much more. It is a cyclical narrative but spread over a year, split into four seasons and twelve chapters. Each season focuses on one of the child’s stories. Each season contains a crisis. The seasons merge into one and the focus becomes the whole family. Bovell’s writing is uniquely specific, yet every line is instantly relatable and universal.

Lydia Sax’s deeply moving interpretation latches onto this quality, keeping the play firmly within its small town, Adelaide setting while teasing out the domestic issues at its heart into an all-embracing story of love and loss. Fran and Bob are doting parents. They have invested everything in the next generation. Bob is aware now that his days are numbered as he spends them tending his rose garden having retired too early. Fran has spent a lifetime secretly saving enough money to build up a get-out clause from her marriage should she wish. But the children always have and always will come first. Rosie suffers a broken heart and finds it hardest to grow up. Her elder sister, Pip, is divorcing and abandoning her own two young children to shack up with a lover in Vancouver. Ben could face prison for fraud while Mark faces his own, very different transitions that throw his parents into further turmoil.

A heady mix of dialogue and monologue, the play is perceptive and dramatic but funny too. Tim Whatmough’s realistic set supplies the warmth of the home and garden backdrop while Jonny Danciger’s evocative lighting and sound design fractures this domesticity. The friction between the smooth and the harsh runs through the narrative – a conflict that the cast grapple with superbly. Christopher Kent gives us a brutally honest portrayal of the patriarch, Bob, forever surprising with his ability to swing from anger to compassion and back with authenticity. You can feel the chemistry between him and Michelle Robertson’s Fran. Equally opinionated, Robertson shows the vulnerability beneath the pragmatism with her nuanced portrayal. In more unsure hands Fran could come across as overly selfish and unaccepting. Jordan Stamatiadis, as the youngest sibling Rosie, mixes an ingénue’s wide-eyed desire to grow up with a need for protection. A strong performance that is matched by the others: Claudia Watanabe as duplicitous divorcee Pip who is closer to Daddy than Mummy, Nick Barraclough as Fran’s favourite, Ben and Andrea Boswell, as Mark who transitions to Mia as the seasons change. It is not an easy role, but Boswell pulls it off remarkably well with touching understatement.

“Things I Know To Be True” is steeped in equal amounts of realism and metaphor. The monologues that characters are given draw us away from the everyday into the abstract, and into the true thoughts of each individual. A truly ensemble piece where each is the protagonist. Memories overlap, and true emotions are often only revealed in letters, anecdote or snippets of song. Leonard Cohen’s ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’ is a haunting leitmotif.

The play marks the first in-house production at the Old Sorting Office to have a full run. Let’s hope that it is not the last. It is a dynamic and assured production that hits home on many levels. We have laughed and we have also recognised parts of ourselves. And we have cried too. This is theatre at its emotive best. Subtly, quietly, naturistically and lyrically poignant. That is one thing I know to be true.

THINGS I KNOW TO BE TRUE

OSO Arts Centre

Reviewed on 4th April 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Salvo Sportato

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STILETTO | ★★★★ | March 2025

SABRAGE | ★★★★ | March 2025

THE LIGHTNING THIEF | ★★★ | March 2025

SISYPHEAN QUICK FIX  | ★★★ | March 2025

DRACULA, A COMEDY OF TERRORS | ★★★★ | March 2025

CRY-BABY, THE MUSICAL | ★★★★★ | March 2025

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD | ★★ | March 2025

FAREWELL MR HAFFMANN | ★★★★ | March 2025

WHITE ROSE | ★★ | March 2025

DEEPSTARIA | ★★★★ | February 2025

THINGS I KNOW TO BE TRUE

★★★

“not without its faults, but ‘Faulty Towers’ is good, solid fun”

The atmosphere is somewhat subdued, with the feel of an airport lounge area. There is a long line to the bar at which the service is inefficient enough to ensure the queue is growing rather than shrinking. Consequently, there’s a bit of a delay. This is of no concern, however, to Basil Fawlty, who bursts into the room to herd us into the dining room next door, all the while insulting us, alternating his deliciously barbed insults between the guests and his long-suffering waiter, Manuel. Sybil is on hand to a) placate us and b) to antagonise Basil further still. “Come on, I’m trying to run a hotel here” squeals Basil. “Have you any idea of how much there is to do? Do you ever think of that? Of course not…” As we take our seats, we are all secretly hoping, at some point, to be the target of Basil’s abuse. The odds are low, however; there are simply too many diners in the rather spacious, refectory styled function room. The décor is bland, offering no clue whatsoever that we could be down in Torquay nor any concession to the decade that ‘Fawlty Towers’ was originally set.

The sheer numbers, though, are testament to the success of the show (if one can call it a show) that has been dished up in London for over a dozen years now. Even if they don’t recreate the ambience, the chaotic spirit is captured. It is an unofficial tribute to the television series – hence the use of ‘Faulty’ rather than ‘Fawlty’ – which mixes improvised audience interaction with scripted snippets from some of the most recognised and iconic episodes. The sketches are rather random, with no through line to link them. Those unfamiliar with John Cleese and Connie Booth’s original might be a touch perplexed; but I doubt that it’s ever an issue. On that note, Polly (Booth’s character in the sitcom) is conspicuously absent. The evening is managed by the trio alone. Although they have little competence in running a restaurant, they are masters of character acting. Lawrence Watling adopts Basil’s mannerisms and maladroitness with easy skill. Not as gangly as Cleese, he still has the physical elasticity required (even pulling off the now suspect Germanic goose-step episode) and the vocal tics. Nerine Skinner has Sybil’s conversational tone down to a tee, while Leigh Kelly’s Manuel ricochets between the tables in a constant state of confusion. It is only when he (infrequently) gets up close to you that you can see the precision of his impersonation.

Then again, the evening isn’t about subtlety. It’s basically about having a good time – which is what everyone is having. And it certainly isn’t about the food either. Admittedly Basil’s hotel wasn’t renowned for it, but the fare on offer is far removed from any definition of ‘haute cuisine’. And not a whiff of ‘Waldorf Salad’. A missed trick, perhaps? Sometimes it seems that the evening isn’t really about the show. Spotting the characters is occasionally like looking for a particular elusive guest across a crowded room. And before dessert is unceremoniously plonked down on our tables, our hosts have taken their bows and left. We are left a little in the lurch. But looking around at my companions, the room is filled with satisfied smiles. It is a healthy cross section of humanity, but you can spot the die-hard ‘Fawlty’ fans. Yet there is a diversity that pays homage to the far-reaching appeal of ‘Fawlty Towers’ with its iconic, iconoclastic British humour.

It is not without its faults, but ‘Faulty Towers’ is good, solid fun. As Sybil explains when the ‘fresh’ soup on the menu looks as though it’s running out; “chef can always open another tin”. This dining experience does exactly what it says on the tin. The contents are spread a little too thin, however. On a smaller scale we’d definitely get more of the flavour. A touch too much soda and not enough Scotch. But with Basil Fawlty in charge, there’s absolutely no point complaining. Just enjoy it… and with that attitude you will.

THINGS I KNOW TO BE TRUE

OSO Arts Centre

★★★★

“A heady mix of dialogue and monologue, the play is perceptive and dramatic but funny too”

THINGS I KNOW TO BE TRUE

OSO Arts Centre

Reviewed on 4th April 2025

by Jonathan Evans

Photography by Salvo Sportato

More reviews by Jonathan:

THINGS I KNOW TO BE TRUE

THINGS I KNOW TO BE TRUE

THINGS I KNOW TO BE TRUE

FAULTY TOWERS THE DINING EXPERIENCE

President Hotel

★★★

“not without its faults, but ‘Faulty Towers’ is good, solid fun”

FAULTY TOWERS THE DINING EXPERIENCE

President Hotel

Reviewed on 3rd April 2025

by Jonathan Evans

More shows reviewed by Jonathan:

FAULTY TOWERS THE DINING EXPERIENCE

FAULTY TOWERS THE DINING EXPERIENCE

FAULTY TOWERS THE DINING EXPERIENCE