Things I Know To Be True (NHB Modern Plays) (Frantic Assembly)

Andrew Bovell

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1848425767 ISBN 13: 9781848425767

Publisher: Nick Hern Books, 2016

Bob and Fran have worked hard to give their four children the opportunities they never had. Now, with the kids ready to make lives of their own, it's time to sit back and smell the roses. But the change of the seasons reveals some shattering truths, leaving us asking whether it's possible to love too much.

Things I Know To Be True is Andrew Bovell's complex and intense portrait of the mechanics of a family - and a marriage - through the eyes of four siblings struggling to define themselves beyond their parents' love and expectations.

Beautifully touching, funny and bold, the play was premiered in Adelaide, Australia, as a co-production between Frantic Assembly and the State Theatre Company of South Australia. It received its British premiere in 2016, co-produced with Warwick Arts Centre in association with Chichester Festival Theatre and the Lyric Hammersmith.

Review:

A thing of beauty... Bovell's spare yet lyrical script... offers us a portrait of family life in all its gory reality - and it is an absolute gem, so exquisitely observed it makes you wince... Five-stars. --Telegraph

A beautiful and painfully perceptive portrait of a family and the frictions that arise when grown-up children try to push beyond the confines of their loving parents' expectations... the bite of psychological realism and the glowing ache of stage poetry are brought together unforgettably... powerful... eloquent... genuinely haunting. --Independent

Love hurts in Andrew Bovell's shattering family portrait... Abrasive, knotty and raw... Bovell evokes the close-knit, squabbling domesticity with such warmth and understanding that you come to share the family's affection, irritation and heartbreak... Exquisitely articulate... leavened with Victoria Wood-esque wit... A drama that explores big ideas through an almost unbearable intimacy. --Arts Desk

Beautiful and devastating... a powerful look at the coexistence of narcissism and unconditional love in family life. --The Stage

Andrew Bovell's plays are alert to the intricacies of character, and here he depicts an apparently conventional family facing problems that are at first humdrum but potentially devastating... Appealingly tender... genuinely beautiful. --Evening Standard

Gripping and deeply moving... starts out as a very funny comedy before transforming into a psychological drama that aspires to be a mini-tragedy.... Heart- breaking... one of the best plays of 2016. --British Theatre Guide

About the Author:

Andrew Bovell's other plays include Speaking in Tongues (which he adapted himself for the film Lantana) and When the Rain Stops Falling. He also co-wrote the original screenplay for Baz Luhrmann's Strictly Ballroom.