The Best Comedy from a Barefaced Liar
“If people stopped lying to each other it would be the end of civilisation as we know it.”
Michel
Florian Zeller’s play The Truth really impressed me at the Menier Chocolate Factory in 2016 so that I looked forward to seeing it again at the Apollo this year. What I didn’t know is what a standout performance we would get from Stephen Mangan as Michel the most non-self-aware protagonist. I had always thought that the French were really relaxed about marital infidelity, that most French men had a mistress and no-one was bothered.
In the opening scene Michel has lost his socks as he gets out of bed with Alice (Sarah Hadland) in a hotel room “between meetings”. While he is concerned with finding his socks, Alice wishes they could spend a whole night together or even a weekend. In conversation it emerges that Alice’s husband Paul has been made redundant from his employment. This is the cue for Michel to deliver a speech on the lack of ethical behaviour in modern society. The humorous icing on the cake for us is when Michel reveals that Paul is his best friend. It never crosses his mind for a moment the dubious ethics in sleeping with his best friend’s wife.
This complete lack of applying his moral values to his own transgressions is what makes Stephen Mangan’s performance as Michel so full of ironic laughter but also amazingly charming, as are many philanderers. We are both outraged and thrillingly amused. The infidelity is double edged as both Alice and Michel are married to other people. Thank goodness there are no children in either marriage to care about.
Lizzie Clachan’s beautiful sets slide from hotel room to Michel’s Parisian mansion apartment to the tennis club where he frequently plays with Paul. In the next scene Michel’s wife Laurence (Janie Dee) is talking about Paul which makes Michel ask, “Do you think his wife is cheating on him?”
Michel and Alice escape the bonds of marriage for a weekend away and there is full ribaldry when Mangan has to talk to Paul pretending to be Alice’s widowed aunt in Chartres. Paul and Michel meet at the tennis club and Paul describes his concerns about his wife’s having an affair. Michel’s first principle is to lie. He justifies it, by using a quote from Moliere, “A lie is only a sin if it does harm. When it does good, it’s a very great virtue.” Michel persuades Alice that lying is less hurtful to Paul.
Janie Dee comes into her own in a final scene where there are more questions raised than answers. This play addresses the vogue for the interpretation of Truth to be whose truth we are exploring. It is a superb comedy with good performances but Stephen Mangan’s comic timing and Lindsay Posner’s direction are immaculate. Maybe not one to see if your marriage is facing infidelity issues, unless they too are laughable, but a shining five stars from Theatrevibe, the site that doesn’t do stars.
Editor of TheatreVibe.co.uk
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Production Notes
The Truth
Written by Florian Zeller
Translated by Christopher Hampton
Directed by Lindsay Posner
Cast
Starring:
Creatives
Director: Lindsay Posner
Designer: Lizzie Clachan
Light Designer: Richard Howell
Sound Director: Adam Cork
Information
Running Time: One hour 25 minutes without an interval
Booking to 12th September 2026
Theatre:
Apollo Theatre
Shaftesbury Avenue
London W1D 7EZ
Box Office: 0330 333 4809
Website:
thetruthplay.com
Tube: Piccadilly Circus
Reviewed by Lizzie Loveridge at the Apollo
on 23rd June 2026 at the matinée