True (24:7 Festival)

True follows the a 25 year cycle in which we see daughter Charlotte, (Emma Rydal) develop from a bolshie 15-year-old who is full of angst, hormones, contradictions and ideas into a mature woman with daughters of her own. Alongside this we also witness Sheila (Roberts Kerr) progress from a middle aged mother of three into an elderly lady with all the accompanying aches and pains.

Cleverly we never see the two characters together on stage yet somehow they interact with each other and compliment each other beautifully. Rydal’s script takes a very ordinary situation; a mother daughter relationship and through beautiful dialogue shows it passion, vulnerability, strength and evolution without the need to add any sex, drugs or rock and roll. It is a situation many can relate to and proves that ordinary life can inspire great drama in its own way.

A great range of emotions are on display here including humour, pathos, love, empathy, sympathy, grief, loss and respect and the play even ends with a mixture of it all. At times highly amusing and at times deeply moving this piece takes the audience through a spectrum of feelings in just one short hour and is quite a tear jerker in parts.

Kerr in particular portrays Sheila’s descent in to old age with grace and skill as she becomes an aging woman convincing right before our eyes. Rydal too captures a great sense of teenage rebellion moving on to being a worried mother herself with ease. Both perform this piece brilliantly and bring the wonderful script to life with passion and vigour.

True tackles what may appear to be mundane everyday topic in its focus on a mother daughter relationship but does so with style and confidence and probes deep into this special and complex bond with grace to produce a highly engaging production.

- Ruth Lovett