Truth Review – Florian Zeller’s complex comedy of deception is a real treat | stage

ALes and Michelle must hide their relationship from suspicious couple Paul and Lawrence, sometimes under detective-level questioning. Florian Zeller’s “Truth” is a modern French farce that adds to the physical comedy of the model a metaphysical dimension about whether accuracy and truthfulness are possible or even plausible. Throughout seven scenes, each of which includes two characters, excuses overlap and contradict each other. Lies may be a tactic to reveal the truth and vice versa until the plot turns into a double helix of deception.

The Truth contains a line taken from Harold Pinter’s play Betrayal, the arbiter of adultery plays, and is intentionally a Parisian gloss on the 1978 play set in London. Michelle and Paul, like Pinter’s Jerry and Robert, are more devoted to their friendship than to their marriage, and there are similar conversational gaffes about who knows what and who knows who, though Zeller’s competitive squash metaphor replaces tennis—the results of the matches become another dispute over reliable records.

Lindsay Posner, the West End production manager, staged the English-language premiere of The Truth at the Meniere Chocolate Factory in 2016. At the time, David Cameron was nearing the end of a Brexit-shortened prime ministership, which was followed by five more fragile terms while reality TV star Donald Trump was on the campaign trail. After a decade of alternative political facts and cultural deepfakes, “The Truth” seems time for a revival.

Translator Christopher Hampton is one theatrical man Entente cordialehis version of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s play Les Liaisons Dangereuses and art by Yasmina Reda was recently revived at the National Theater and on Broadway. Truth, one of the Seven Zellers, is made amazingly funny by four brilliant con artists.

Stephen Mangan’s charmingly narcissistic Michel rises and falls like a soufflé. As Alice, Sarah Hadland deftly handles the part’s complex cover-ups, while Janie Dee’s Lawrence, brilliant as a magistrate, excels when she has to reverse the meaning of a scene with a single look. Ardal O’Hanlon makes Paul an interesting mix of deception and power. Lizzie Clachan’s interwoven collection moves seamlessly between elegant bedrooms, living rooms and dressing rooms.

In 2017, Posner directed Zeller’s companion piece (Unfaithful), the darker, less farcical The Lie, in which a quartet with the same names and connections traffic in lies and the playwright asserts the assumption that not being truthful is tact: “Whatever they claim, people don’t really want to be told the truth.” Let’s hope there’s the same cast in the sequel, but for now, The Truth is a cheerful summer treat. genuinely.