★★★★

“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.

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK: WHAT A WHOPPER! at Charing Cross Theatre

★★★

“some great, high-energy performances and a really superb design”

Following last year’s Sleeping Beauty Takes a Prick!, the same creative team returns to the Charing Cross Theatre with another riotously naughty adult pantomime: Jack and the Beanstalk: What a Whopper! This outrageous take on the beloved fairytale, written by Jon Bradfield and Martin Hooper, promises all the glitter and glamour of traditional panto, but with a decidedly adult twist. Packed with innuendos, saucy humour, and fabulous designs, it’s an unashamedly queer festive night out.

The show’s design is truly marvellous, with David Shields’ award-winning talents on full display. The set bursts with vibrant colour and whimsical detail, perfectly capturing the silly yet sophisticated tone of the production. Glittering pink and blue clouds frame the stage and floor, giving a cohesive, cartoon-like charm that’s both nostalgic and fresh. Scene transitions, from Dame Dolly’s kitchen to a graveyard and even then to the sky, are executed with seamless flair, ensuring the visual storytelling flows effortlessly. Perhaps the most important part of any version of this particular story is, of course, the reveal of the beanstalk. Shields’ design absolutely does not disappoint, with the phallic shaped stalk bursting onto the scene with great delight from the audience.

Robert Draper and Sandy Lloyd’s costumes are equally delightful, combining bold colours, traditional panto flair and some fun little tricks too. Matthew Baldwin’s Dame Dolly has perhaps a dozen changes throughout the show, donning various wigs and dresses, and at one glorious moment appearing in a Norma Desmond-inspired number, reflecting her character’s backstory as a failed soap opera star.

Matthew Baldwin is right at home as he returns to the adult pantomime and absolutely lives up to his reputation. He builds a great rapport with the audience, gracing the stage with ease, effortlessly balancing the character’s brash humour and softer moments. Chris Lane, swapping last year’s villainous role for Dale the fairy, is another standout. His cheeky rapport with the audience, impeccable comic timing, and flirtatious stage presence adds endless charm. Lane’s dynamic with Keanu Adolphus Johnson’s Jack Trott is particularly entertaining, with their playful exchanges offering plenty of laughs.

Johnson brings a likeable quality to Jack, capturing the character’s charm. While his performance might benefit from bolder characterisation, his chemistry with the rest of the cast and general presence is lovely. Laura Anna-Mead, as Simple Simone, has boundless energy from her first entrance, becoming hilariously giddy when talking about her big crush.

Jordan Stamatiadis also returns to this year’s panto as the villainous Lady Fleshcreep. Stamatiadis has a commanding onstage presence and shows off a gloriously evil voice. Meanwhile, Joe Grundy as Reverend Tim, navigating a comic sexual awakening, provides some laughs, though could push the physical characterisation much further.

Carole Todd’s choreography brings lots of joy and energy to the stage. Matt Hockley’s lighting design enhances this further, bathing the action in vibrant colours and dynamic effects that amplify the panto’s glittering atmosphere.

While the script delivers its fair share of laugh-out-loud moments, packed with smutty innuendos and one-liners, the narrative could be tightened. Scenes drift a little and could do with more focus as it journeys through each beat of the story. Likewise, musically, the original songs don’t do much to drive the narrative and aren’t exactly catchy or memorable. A brief moment of Beyonce is very welcome and further use of parodying pre-existing songs would really elevate the show to the next level.

Jack and the Beanstalk: What a Whopper! has some great, high-energy performances and a really superb design. The humour sometimes lands and sometimes doesn’t, and I think the show would overall benefit from focussing a bit more on story and a little less on joke after joke, which starts to get a little tiring. Above all, I think this is a pantomime team which knows its audience, and I’m sure many will really enjoy this year’s offering.

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

More reviews by Jonathan:

THINGS I KNOW TO BE TRUE

THINGS I KNOW TO BE TRUE

THINGS I KNOW TO BE TRUE

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK: WHAT A WHOPPER! at Charing Cross Theatre

★★★

“some great, high-energy performances and a really superb design”

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK: WHAT A WHOPPER! at Charing Cross Theatre

Reviewed on 28th November 2024

by Joseph Dunitz

Photography by Steve Gregson

Previously reviewed at this venue:

JACK AND THE

JACK AND THE