Things I Know to be True Viewing Notes

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  • All about family dynamics

  • Play went through family relationships with each character 

    • Starts with Rosie, has no real problem with either parent, the one who wears rose glasses, is still a kid at heart and romanticizes her family and everyone in it 

    • Pip has fallen in love with someone who isn’t her husband and has decided to move to Vancouver → has a very strained relationship with Fran, Fran sees that Pip is the most like herself and therefore she is the hardest on her, sometimes to where she is cold, almost manipulative

    • Mark/Mia comes out as transgender, neither of her parents fully except her but they both love her so they seem to make some effort, but she moves to Sydney

    • Ben admits that he has moved money around too much at his job illegally and may get arrested, Fran is sympathetic because Ben is the one child she is the most lenient with, Bob flips out and has no sympathy for Ben

    • Fran reveals to Bob that she fell out of love with him some time ago, she fell in love with someone else but chose to be unhappy for her family 

    • Finally Rosie tells her parents she is going to leave and move to Brisbane, they are heartbroken that their final child is leaving the nest 

    • Finally Fran falls asleep behind the wheel and dies, wrecks the whole family, despite the fact that everyone’s relationship with her was the most strained 

  • Show is heavily choreographed, because so movement oriented 

    • Several graceful lifts, even flipping actors around (for example Rosie) while they continue their monologue 

    • The smallest of movements: when the table is being shifted around, how Fran holds the letter from Pip, how Mark/Mia packs the suitcase, how the tables and chairs are slid in when the characters enter, how the hands are placed on Rosie during her monologue, etc… → pretty much the entire show! 

  • The characters are very much in control over which emotions they portray → even a slight change in volume or tone projects a whole other emotion that shows another level to the characters 

    • Pretty much all of the characters cry on demand, communicate pain with their body language and changes in their voice (breaking/quivering) 

  • The emotions portrayed from each character seems just as important as the overall feeling is portrayed when all of the characters are on stage interacting with each other, even when they are more figments in the background that are there for lifts/choreography but are still important and part of the overall emotion 

  • even though it's one family, each character is different and each of their personalities are established even when some of them are only on for a short amount of time

    • Due to the family lineage/age order of the children each character is affected by the others (for example Rosie is the most positive and peppy because she is the youngest child, still considered a baby, Ben is also kind of the baby of the family as the youngest son) 


  • Two Interesting moments:

    • Pip’s monologue → she shows so much emotion while still staying strong, she is breaking down but not in the same way that all of her other siblings do, even how her parents do → she carries the weight of being the oldest daughter and the oldest child, there are expectations for her more than anyone 

    • When Bob learns of Fran’s death → incredible acting, the rash screaming and pulling the roses out of the garden was heartbreaking and uncomfortable – almost Artaud, but also extremely realistic, showing his real emotions inside whether or not his action were realistic  

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