https://theberkshireedge.com/theater-review-things-i-know-to-be-true-at-great-barrington-public-theater-through-august-14/ Full script (warning - its formatted a little odd - line breaks between each character shift - 2 people) Beautiful and devastating… a powerful look at the coexistence of narcissism and unconditional love in family life' The Stage

Both down to earth and gently magical. It’s the sort of uniquely theatrical evening that might just convert those suspicious that theatre doesn’t speak to them' The Times Billington, Michael (2016-09-18). "Things I Know to Be True review – Imogen Stubbs stars in fractured family portrait". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077 . Retrieved 2016-11-18.

Things I Know To Be True follows the story and the many struggles of the Price Family. The play begins with a monologue from Rosie Price on a European getaway during her gap-year. She reveals that she had met a man called Emanuel while she was in Berlin, but found that he'd stolen most of her valuables and run away when she woke up one night, forcing her to return to Australia. The play takes place over the course of a year and is divided into seasons with a clear beginning and ending. The scenes consist of monologues exploring the characters' main crises as well as duologues and ensemble scenes. From a set text perspective this play has a huge amount to offer students. The characters' monologues offer lots of opportunity for students to explore the ways in which they would play each role, and allow them really to engage with the subtext of the play. Of course, any Frantic Assembly performance will have a huge focus on physicality, and Things I know to be true does not disappoint. Students will be able to focus on the ensemble movement pieces, some of which are fast and energetic while others are mesmerizingly thoughtful, allowing students to consider the Frantic principles of the universe before the touch, the universe of the touch and the universe after the touch. Design A mix of warm humanity and sadness… there’s an intelligent attentiveness to the little details of domesticity, some sour and others honeyed' Evening Standard I understand that after the play was first launched in 2016 that there has been extensive consultation from Bovell with the trans community to ensure that when theatre companies present this text that they’re doing so with care and consideration, however, the cruelty within these scenes and the unwavering love that Mia has for her parents defies that earnestness. At its core, Things I Know to Be True is still a transgender story written by a cisgender writer, reinforcing the notion of when a trans story is not a trans story at all.

Unsurprisingly, Bob and Fran comfortably engage in transphobic nimbyism where they attempt to ‘both sides’ the situation by saying words along the lines of ‘I don’t mind if people do that, just not my own children.’ Which makes the reveal at the end of the first act feel both insensitive and poorly handled.My suburb has changed. The skyline has changed. The gum trees I’ve seen grow and shape the vista over the decades are now being pulped. The houses where the family memories have been torn down, replaced by boundary-to-boundary homes with nary a garden bed in sight. Things I Know to Be True speaks of the suburbs, of the ‘forgotten Australian’s’ that certain groups of politicians love to talk about, but it’s also speaking of the past. These entities are now fading out of existence, being replaced by changed suburbs that push our society in different directions. Ocr tesseract 5.1.0-1-ge935 Ocr_detected_lang en Ocr_detected_lang_conf 1.0000 Ocr_detected_script Latin Ocr_detected_script_conf 0.9714 Ocr_module_version 0.0.16 Ocr_parameters -l eng Old_pallet IA-NS-2000680 Openlibrary_edition Here, we see Mia (Kaz Kane) come out to their parents as being transgender; yet, Bovell’s script never uses the word ‘transgender’, instead leaving both Bob and Fran to throw around caustic and scarring words about transitioning, with Fran pointedly using transphobic terms to both hurt and demean her daughter. Bob and Fran furiously refuse to call Mia a woman, instead blaming her for ‘the son they will lose’. Yet, in the face of hate and anger and the active condemnation of her existence, Mia shows her parents love, later commenting that ‘they’ll come round.’ As parents, Bob and Fran would likely say they’re not truly religious, there’s enough of a remnant of a Christian-adjacent upbringing that causes them both to lead a semi-religious kind of life. They encourage monogamy and truth telling. They abhor stealing. Bob particularly dislikes swearing, even though Fran frivolously engages in spitting curse words in spiteful and horrid ways. urn:lcp:thingsiknowtobet0000bove:epub:cd9bf9e4-6c80-41e2-a8b0-8b88e5642d3a Foldoutcount 0 Identifier thingsiknowtobet0000bove Identifier-ark ark:/13960/s2fq68wvb3h Invoice 1652 Isbn 9781780018201

Far from bland domestic drama, Andrew Bovell’s play offers a touching depiction of the way in which families function, of the intricacy of shared experience and pain between parent and child, and of the agony of loving and being loved too much. Who’s in it? Despite its specific setting in the suburbs of Adelaide, all of the actors use their regional British accents, a strong reminder that the issues discussed do not belong to any one time or place. Families and the joys and trials that they bring resonate with all of us – we can all see something of ourselves and our parents in the scenes on stage. At its core, Things I Know to Be True is the story of how a heart collectively breaks. If I’m being reductive, it’s pointedly a reminder about learning to appreciate every moment you have in your life. It’s about discarding your prejudices and saving both yourself and the person you care about the time of pain of enduring the divide that has come between you both. If I continue being reductive, I will presume that it’s for the older audiences that that message would resonate the most. This is a play for parents whose vision of where they intended their children’s lives to go has failed to align with where they end up. Good god, a little piece of my heart fell out watching @franticassembly #ThingsIKnowToBeTrue with @ScarletWild Gorgeous production. Go see.That feeling of bringing our own experiences to a play to bridge the emotional divide is not an uncommon one, leading Things I Know to Be True to thrive on those shared experiences that we all may have had. While the cast is uniformly great, they’re given characters that are spread too thin, leading to the amplified notion that we only get to know them by the traumatic event that has defined who they are.