Things I Know To Be True review - Family truths well told on Leamington stage

​Families! You can’t live with them; you can’t live without them. They’re part of who we are. They are the pole star in each of our universes.

​Of course, they come in all shapes and sizes. The Price family seem ordinary enough. Dad (Rod Wilkinson) is a retired car worker, Mum (Julie Godfrey) is a nurse. They’ve worked hard to bring up their four children. On the face of it, they’ve done well. But there are some major cracks in the façade.

Rosie (Alice Arthur) has been seeking direction by travelling, and has her heart broken by a casual romance she thought was more. Pip (Ruth Herd) is a high-flyer in government, but she wants to leave her sensible kind husband and children for a new life far away. Ben (Blake Hutchings) likes expensive toys but has been ‘skimming’ his employers’ profits for years to pay for them. Mark (Julien Rosa) wants to transition to his true state as Mia. Trying desperately to keep it all together is Fran, their mother (Julie Godfrey), a tigress both in defence of her children and towards them when they step out of line. They may love each other, but there are some deep grievances within and beyond the family that demand to be heard.

Things I Know To Be True, by Andrew Bovell, is a brilliant portrayal of a family enjoying and suffering the effects of upward social mobility. Their parents believed in thrift, hard work and loyalty as the basis of a good society. For the children, identity, expressions of affluence, self-actualisation, are the things they aspire to.

It is of course a situation many will recognise, which is in part what makes this play so compelling. What raises it above the everyday is the tender, intelligent script, the sheer force of the acting and the brilliant direction by Lynda Lewis. Every nuance of character is explored, every heartstring plucked, but it is never mawkish or self-pitying. We feel for them throughout. Two hours, and a lifetime, flash past all too soon in this deeply moving, oh so true to life play.

Until Saturday May 17. Visit lofttheatrecompany.com or call 01926 830680 to book.