Spellbinding show blurs line between truth and lies

Truth, Warwick Arts Centre, March 13 &14

What is truth? How can a heavy, cumbersome lie free us from the truth and from ourselves when honesty threatens to destroy everything we know?

Truth, by Helen Chadwick, is a powerful and mesmerising look at the complexities of honesty as it turns everything on its head. Taking us deep into a maze of language and self-exploration, it holds a mirror up to our own morals at a time when every thought is made permanent and every record can be questioned.

The performance uses testimonies collected from all over the world. Retelling the stories, we are let into secrets, we are trusted with truths and dishonesties - and we feel it all.

The voices blur the boundaries between right and wrong, and between a lie and a truth, pulling us from shock to awe and back again. It’s fast-paced, but it’s calm, it’s stark, and it’s gentle. It’s funny, and it’s heart-wrenching. Everything is centred on this push and pull, the balance and extremities of the two ideas as we are taken into the lives which have been saved and destroyed by honesty.

The performance is a spellbinding fusion of song and choreography, and it delivers from the start. It’s bare, but also graceful and honest. The whole thing is stripped down to just four voices and four stools moving between light and dark – and it's powerful.

The songs are chant-like and beautifully simple. There’s so much presence in these voices shining out of the darkness that even in their whispers, they tell it all and make us listen – to truth, lies, and everything in between.

Tickets from www.warwickartscentre.co.uk