Theatre Review: The Truth

The Play: The Truth

Where: Melbourne Theatre Company. The Southbank Theatre

Until: 17 July

Stars: 4 and a bit 

My day was dodgy. After a wonderful breakfast with a friend, I came back to find some plumbers with an angle grinder, singing KISS songs outside of my window for most of the day. It didn't make for good working conditions.

But then the day got better. A lovely dinner before the theatre - I mean who can say no to braised beef cheeks? But then as we were about to go to the play it started to tip down. I was without an umbrella or coat and the rain was going nowhere. 

Scumbag hack #452: Ask the maitre d' if they have a old umbrella in lost property. They may just oblige. 

In my case, I scored a very practical red and white striped umbrella to keep my dry on the way to the theatre. It probably helps that I've had dinner at this place once or twice a month for ten years, but I scored a brolly - and I'm very proud of this. I've offered to bring it back, but I was told not to bother. They'd had it in lost property for months. 

Anyway, we got to the theatre, masked up, checked in and wandered into the auditorium and were heartily entertained for the next hour and a half. 

The Truth was penned by Florian Zeller and translated from French to English by noted playwright and screenwriter, Christopher Hampton, who was behind such works as Dangerous Liaisons, Atnoement and more recently, The Father. 

The play tells the story of two happily married couples, Michel and Laurence, and Paul and Alice. Michel and Paul are best friends. Michel (Stephen Curry) who is having an affair with Alice (Katrina Milosevic), wife of his best friend. Paul (Bert La Bonte) and Laurence (Michaela Banas) are seemingly oblivious to the affair. But when Alice gets  a little antsy, just how far will Michel go to keep the affair a secret? I won't say much more than this is a darkly comic comedy of manners which looks at people at their best and worse. 

Sarah Giles' direction is on point. Slick, fully realised and punchy. Punchy in that the 90 minutes of the play goes very quickly, and punchy in a way that you really want to slap Michel most of the time. 

The cast are all fantastic. Stephen Curry steals the show as the hapless, rather useless Michel, torn between wanting to keep the lie going, but wondering if there were any truths out there to start with. Michaela Banas brings the right sort of pathos to Laurence, the wronged wife. Bert La Bonte plays the straight man, Paul, a character worthy of our sympathy. There are twists and turns through the course of the 90 minute play as you try and ascertain who is lying, and who is telling the truth. 

On top of this, there's a killer set and great costumes. The set is minimal but very effective. And the snow scene is one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. 

I can happily say this is an awesome night out. Well worth obtaining a ticket to see it. The Southbank Theatre normally holds 540 patrons. With current restrictions, there were 300 in the audience. 

If you can score a ticket, do. This is a great production. 

Today's song: