Photos: First Look At The Canadian Premiere Of THINGS I KNOW TO BE TRUE By Andrew Bovell

Premiered in 2016 in Adelaide, Australia, produced by the State Theatre Company and the U.K.-based physical theatre company Frantic Assembly, the play was the eagerly awaited new work by one of Australia's premiere playwrights and screenwriters. Andrew Bovell, whose past works include the international hits Speaking in Tongues and When the Rain Stops Falling, wanted to create something differently. He suggested he work with Geordie Brookman, the arstic director of the State Theatre Company, and a group of actors to workshop a play suggested solely by a book of photos by Gregory Crewdson, who is famous for his cinematic and eery images of the decay of small-town America.

 

 

 

From that starting point, and from a diverse collection of other source materials that were discovered during the show's workshop creation period, Bovell fashioned a play about a family attempting to come to terms and find contentment in a world that is constantly changing, in ways both surprising and expected.

 

 

 

 

Things I Know to be True played to both popular and critical acclaim in Australia and then on an extensive UK tour, including two engagements at London's prestigious Lyric Hammersmith Theatre.

 

 

 

A poignant family drama with universal resonance, Things I Know to be True is the story of a year in the life of the Prices, a seemingly typical modern suburban family. Bob (Tom McCamus) works on the assembling line at a car factory and Fran (Seana McKenna) is a registered nurse. They have struggled to raise four children - Rosie (Alanna Bale), Pip (Christine Horne), Ben (Daniel Maslany) and Mia (Michael Derworiz). Now in their sixties, with their children grown and independent, the couple looks forward to their retirement years.

 

But a parent's job is never finished, and as the seasons change, Bob and Fran find themselves guiding and supporting their children as they each face life-altering changes that shake the foundation of the once stable family home. Some of the forces that change this family's life are out of its control, such as new technology and the advancement of an encroaching global economy. Some are very personal.

 

 

 

With insight and humanity, Bovell has tapped into the poetry, beauty and tragedy of everyday life to create a deeply moving play about familial love in many of its forms - at times comforting and supportive, at others suffocating and destructive.

 

 

Tickets: $50 - $99 available only through www.mirvish.com and by phone at 1-800-461-3333.

 

Photo Credit: Dahlia Katz