THE TRUTH by Singapore Repertory Theatre

“Truth hurts”

Reviewer: Myle Yan Tay
Performance: 4 April 2019

In the penultimate scene of The Truth by French playwright Florian Zeller, Michael, played by Lim Yu-Beng, asks his best friend if the play they’re in is a comedy or a tragedy.

It is entirely possible that this is Zeller telling the audience that The Truth will defy such neat conventions. It’s unfortunate then that at this point in the play, any answer to that question would have been thoroughly disappointing.

The Truth is the latest production by the Singapore Repertory Theatre, directed by Ng Choon Ping. It explores the theme of infidelity, and intends to challenge whether the truth is indeed what we want. And the play does explore this – but only in its very final moments. The rest of the time feels like we are just waiting for something to happen.

If we treat The Truth as a comedy, it does not meet the mark. Its central premise comes off like a dinner table joke, except it is 90 minutes long and far less punchy. There are amusing moments, like Michael pretending to be his mistress’ elderly aunt on the phone, but these stick out as rare instances of absurdity in a play that is otherwise tiresomely ordinary.

For it to be a tragedy, the audience should be invested in the characters or relationships, so they will care when things take a turn for the worse. But not a single character is remotely likable, and none of the relationships are emotionally engaging. Though the actors put in a commendable effort to navigate the play’s repetitive dialogue, they cannot overcome the fact that each character speaks with the exact same voice. The central relationship between Michael and his mistress is profoundly uninteresting and it is never clear why an audience member should care that they stay together or break up. Michael is so unlikable that even though the play eventually delivers his comeuppance – as most tragedies do – this reviewer is left wondering why we needed to wait so long for this surprise.

That leaves The Truth with the final option: That it is not trying to be either a comedy or a tragedy, and instead wants to sit between both. But this comes at a severe cost. The play never goes to any novel place with its comedy. Neither does it dive deep into any of its shallow characters to find some tragic truth. Instead, we are left on the border of each, getting an idea of what the play could have been if it settled on either option.