Meet Liv (Lauren Gardner), Hannah (Elly Datson) and Gigi (Neve Ricketts): three women navigating their twenties. When the trio realise how frequently they are dishonest, they make a pact to never lie again. But it turns out that telling the truth can have disastrous consequences. How far would you go to deny or prove the truth?
telling the truth can have disastrous consequences
The three women gave great performances in their roles. Gardner delivered Liv’s quick-witted quips with sass, Datson spoke with an air of ‘I’m better than you’ – excellently portraying the highly-strung Hannah, and Ricketts had great comedic timing and knew when to add a touch of melodrama for Gigi’s frequent breakdowns. The character dynamics felt similar to the hilarious BBC3 show Some Girls and it felt like a true representation of a house-share… until the chaos escalated. I especially loved the impromptu N-Dubz performance as it reminded me of my experience living with my best friends.
‘The yoghurt pot of truth’ quickly kickstarted the rising action. Whoever held the yoghurt pot had to be completely honest, which was a stressful concept that began as humorous, but I could tell would dangerously escalate. It led to the creation of the pact not to lie, which polarised Gigi and Liv: Gigi took it extremely literally and Liv hilariously became a walking existential crisis, questioning the existence and meaning of ‘truth’; and later questioning everything. The tension increased with each scene as the three characters struggled more and more with their realities of the truth, so the narrative built well to the climax. There were also some subtle hints throughout that foreshadowed the shocking ending of the play which were very clever, as I didn’t think too much about it when watching but realised upon reflection. I would love to watch the play again, to see if there were any moments I missed!
My main wish would be to know why everyone, but especially Liv, was so obsessed with yoghurts? She had one in hand for the majority of the play, and I was hoping this would tie well into the storyline. But unfortunately, this did not go any further ‘the yoghurt pot of truth’. I would have loved another reference back to this just to link or explain Liv’s enthusiasm for dairy products.
Truth Be Told excellently explored of the repercussions of keeping secrets and being brutally honest. I don’t think I could uphold their truth pact, but then again, I don’t think I want to.
