THE TRUTH – a ninety-minute farcical romp of secrets, lies and betrayal
Florian Zeller‘s Olivier Award-nominated French comedy returns to London a decade after it was first seen at the Menier Chocolate Factory.
The Truth (translated by Christopher Hampton and directed by Lindsay Posner) is a ninety-minute masterclass in farce, misdirection and the comedy of watching people dig themselves deeper into holes entirely of their own making.
Taking its cue from Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, the play drops us into the lives of two couples whose worlds are about to fall apart.
Michel is sleeping with Alice, his best friend Paul’s wife. As one lie becomes another, Paul and Laurence begin to sense that something is wrong. What follows is a farcical escalation of near-misses, implausible cover stories and magnificent comic timing, until by the end you are genuinely uncertain who knows what and who is really sleeping with who.
The great trick of The Truth is that beneath all the laughter, it asks the question: what do we actually consider to be the ultimate betrayal? Sleeping with your best friend’s wife, or cheating at tennis? The fact that the audience seems almost disturbingly willing to engage with that question (and to laugh at the answer) says something rather telling about us all.
The cast is great for this production. Janie Dee brings theatrical authority and comic instinct to the role of Laurence, Father Ted star Ardal O’Hanlon is perfect as the bewildered, suspicious Paul and Sarah Hadland best known as Miranda’s long-suffering best friend, proves that comic timing cannot be taught.
But it is Stephen Mangan who holds the whole thing together, carrying the audience through Michel’s increasingly desperate house of cards with a performance that is career-defining: charming and in command of every beat.
The Truth is funny, smartly constructed and delivered by a cast that makes comedy look effortless. A well-needed ninety-minute chuckle-along.
★★★★
Reviewed by West End Wilma
The Truth is playing at the Apollo Theatre until 12 September 2026
