THE LIE (Made in Manchester)****

 

By Tommy

Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000m4dc

Available until: 28^th September 2020

The Lie is a radio play rather than a staged drama, but I believe it may be of interest to theatre fans. The considerable success of The Mousetrap, which ran for almost seventy years until the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of all theatres, and also of the much more recent production of Witness for the Prosecution, which had been playing at London’s County Hall for almost three years, suggest there are many fans of Agatha Christie amongst the theatregoing public –but some will be unfamiliar with this play.

This play was, I confess, completely unfamiliar to me until a few days ago. Although thought to have been written in the 1920s, it was not discovered until almost a hundred years later, in 2014.

It is not a murder mystery – indeed, I do not believe anything that happens in this play would be considered a crime nowadays, though an act is involved which would have been considered criminal at the time and remained so until 1960 (in the interests of clarity, this does not refer to the Sexual Offences Act of 1967). The question of right and wrong is also examined and many will feel that the behaviour exhibited by some of the characters is morally wrong, whether it was illegal at the time of the play or an accepted part of life.

This is partly what makes the play so interesting – and deceptively clever. The exact situation is unlikely to arise today, but although behaviours and customs have changed considerably, I believe that human beings have not changed nearly as much. Much as we might disapprove of some of the actions in this play (though, then again, we might not disapprove entirely: the law I mentioned previously was changed for a reason), this family drama gives an intriguing look at life in the 1920s; about social expectations and obligations – and about right and wrong. It examines the concept of love and what that means and what people will do as a result of love and when that metaphorical line is crossed. Times have changed, but many people still feel unhappy in their lives or worry about how they will appear to the outside world or make an impulsive action as a result of emotion – an action they come to regret.

The cast do an excellent job of presenting the different points of view and there were no characters I found completely unsympathetic, though undeniably some whose points of view I saw more easily than others. Nell, played by Chloe Newsome, has a touching innocence and belief in truth. Sarah Mowat’s unhappy Nan is driven by audible desperation; their mother Hannah by respectability and the need to do the right thing, but Alison Skilbeck ensures there is emotion under the surface. Ben Nealon makes a considerable impression as John.

There is no mystery here, but it might still be worth preparing to have your brain twisted up in knots. There is a lot to think about.