“Things I Know To Be True” by Andrew Bovell
Nottingham New Theatre

This is going to be the hardest review I've had to write for a long time. Not because I didn't enjoy, the opposite in fact, but this is one play that really emotionally affected me, and whatever I write will not come near to the feelings this cast and the script made me feel. I emotionally bought into the performances and story.

As a parent, receiving a phone call late at night always makes you think the worst. This is the starting point and the ending in this play, but the call the Price family received was not one they had expected to get.Especially from the story leading up to that call.

“Things I Know To Be True” follows the story and the many struggles of the Price Family.

Rosie had met a man while on a gap year, only for him to up and leave her. Forcing her to eventually return to Australia. Rosie’s elder sister Pip has left her husband and kids to go and live in Vancouver. Mother Fran disapproves, especially as she discovers that Pip had been cheating. Pip then writes to Fran, connecting with her after a history of a mentally abusive childhood.

The second child, Mark, reveals that he wants to live as a woman. He reveals that he wishes to move to Sydney to begin hormonal therapy. Later in the play we see Mark as Mia.

Another sub-plot is that Fran had been saving around $250,000 as a get-out fund for her relationship with Bob, but there’s a change of plan there as well.

The final sub-plot involves the younger son, Ben and his father Bob, and how Ben managed to afford a flashy European car. Later in the play we discover just how Ben managed to afford the car and his lifestyle.

It sounds like the plot of a soap opera but the emotion invested in these characters by the cast make this drama so intent that I'd have been happy to forego the intermission and carry straight through.

The cast of six all had there own time to feature which blended so well into the intertwining stories of the others.

Jack Linley, who played Bob, the father. In many ways Bob reminded me of myself with his temperament, but when his emotions bubbled over, you really felt an aching in your heart for him. It's difficult to play a man in your sixties when you're about forty years younger but Jack captured the physicality well.

Isabelle Cadwallader, played Fran, the mother. Like all the cast that I'd seen previously, this performance exceeded everything I'd seen before from these actors. Fran could be seen as a hard nosed matriarch, but then came the glimpses of the softer side. the final ten minutes of this play, involving Fran was pure heartbreak.

Emily Edmond, played Pip, and as a debut performance for the NNT, Emily delivered an emotionally laden speech as to why she had to split with her husband. You would never had guessed this was her first with the group as the chemistry between all the cast was so believable. I imagine that Emily will have acted before because of the confidence shown.

Boo Jackson was Rosie and she got to deliver the first full speech, and this speech was like poetry, it painted a beautifully descriptive picture of the reason why she returned home. The change from elation to heartache was swift and felt like a slap to the face.

Ollie Binns played Ben and he too got to deliver an emotive description of how he paid for the car and lifestyle, and the breakdown that followed was not a half-hearted performance. The relationship between both parents and Ben at this point of the play proved pivotal in all three roles.

Last, but by no means least is Daniel McVey who played Mark/Mia. I've seen Daniel in several plays at NNT but this role just showed what a mature actor he is. Mark's speech just before Act One came to a close really got to me and I actually found myself getting quite emotional. He pushed my emotions further than any character or play I can remember seeing before.

As I said at the start, no words I could put down will fully say how I felt many times during this play, and Mark's speech in Act One and the start of Act Two just tipped me over, as did Ben's breakdown speech and the end scenes with Bob and Fran's final story.

Co Directed by Dan Morris and Matteo Bagaini, I do not know how you pair did this but you really know what buttons to push to get reactions from an audience. You brought out the mature acting side of all of these amazing actors.

There were some lovely simple but effective shadow play and some really nice choreographed pieces (Ellie Roberts).

The design of the set (Francesca Ashby) was simple and effective with only a few props, until the end scene when the shadow curtain was dropped and the view of Bob's garden, which previously had only been seen in silhouette was revealed.

The lighting design was used to great effect for the silhouette work, thanks to Emma Barber, and the spotlit start and finish.

A lot of technical work was involved to produce this play and Sam Andre-Paul was responsible for this area.

Andrew Bovell has written an incredibly emotive piece of work and this brilliant cast and crew have done the script and author a great credit. Not only that but you managed to make my eyes leak. Something that not even "Blood Brothers" or "Bare - A Pop Opera" managed to do.

Unfortunately Saturday was the last day to see this beautiful piece of theatre, but thank you NNT for introducing me to this one. It's a play and performance that I will not forget.