Read our review of Things I Know To Be True, now playing at The Loft Theatre in Leamington Spa.

Written by Australian playwright Andrew Bovell, Things I Know To Be True is a poignant portrait of family, full of love, pain, and all the contradictions in between.

Can love and family overcome life's many dilemmas?

This is just one of the many questions posed by Things I Know To Be True, directed by Lynda Lewis as her first solo direction at The Loft.

The action unfolds on a modest set depicting the Price family's garden and their kitchen, a familiar, domestic space overgrown with memories.

Over a year, the characters navigate personal revelations, heartbreaks, and turning points.

Things I Know To Be True captures the beautiful, the messy, and the painful aspects of family life.

Parents Bob (Rod Wilkinson) and Fran (Julie Godfrey) appear to be a happily married couple with four grown children.

But beneath the surface, things are far from perfect.

Fran (Julie Godfrey) and Bob Price (Rod Wilkinson) (images via Richard Smith Photography)

The realities of family life, its tensions, disappointments, and secrets, soon become evident not only to the audience but to the Prices themselves.

The play opens with the youngest daughter, Rosie (Alice Arthur), returning home heartbroken from her travels, disillusioned by a fleeting romance.

Her sister Pip (Ruth Herd) seems to have it all: a steady job, two children, and a dependable husband. 

Yet, Pip finds herself craving something more when a job opportunity arises in Canada.

Pip (Ruth Herd) and her father Bob (Rod Wilkinson) (images via Richard Smith Photography)

Ben (Blake Hutchings), raised in a working-class household, becomes entangled in financial trouble as his ambitions spiral out of control.

Ben (Blake Hutchings) and Rosie Price (Alice Arthur) (images via Richard Smith Photography)

Then there's Mark (Julien Rosa), the youngest son, who reveals that he wishes to become his true self, Mia, a change both Bob and Fran struggle to accept.

Mark/Mia (Julien Rosa): Things I Know To Be True (images via Richard Smith Photography)

Each character is spotlighted in turns, their struggles and hopes inevitably pulling them back home, right up to the final scene, which is a moving and heartbreaking reminder of the fragility of life. 

What makes this play special is its use of Frantic Assembly's distinctive physical expression, from lifting one another to leaning on each other in moments of sadness and love.

Mum Fran and son Ben playing in the garden: Things I Know To Be True (images via Richard Smith Photography)

As the Prices wrestle with identity, ambition, love, and loss, their garden becomes a symbol of home. 

It is a place of comfort, confrontation, and inevitable return for Bob and Fran's children – whether they like it or not, it is home.

Things I Know To Be True is at The Loft until 17 May.

To find out more about the play, read here and visit lofttheatrecompany.com or call 01926 830680 to book tickets.