Thought-provoking observation on society and where we’re heading

EMILY GOODE’S new dystopian play, directed by Rik Eke, explores the boundaries between stories, lies and versions of the truth.

In this society, transgressors against “the truth” are consigned
to a cell, given a number and label — “liar”, “storyteller” — and controlled by a sinister disembodied voice (Laura Barns) issuing orders, including the requirement to speak aloud “the truth”, reduced in this context to a set of simplistic mottos.

The design team uses light, shade and straight lines to conjure up an uncomfortable, confined space on stage.

Anita Sandhu plays a high-energy Pies (think rhyming slang, “porky pies”), who has somehow made this space her own, ranging around it in enervated fashion, her institutional green uniform a mark of her prisoner status. She is Liar 973.

When new cellmate Storyteller 116 arrives, there is an instant clash of character. Samantha Bessant convincingly plays Jack as an introspective, rather hostile character.

Pies offers tips on how to survive in such stark surroundings but they are met with antagonism and a refusal to comply.

Sandhu as Pies doggedly tries to inject some warmth and humour into this uncomfortable intimacy.

There’s acknowledgement of the age-old belief that storytelling should be regarded as a force for good, not conflated with “lies”.

Liar’s Teeth offers some thought-provoking observations on contemporary society and the way we are perhaps heading.

What are the threatening rumblings that cast fear in the hearts of the cellmates? Who are the “listeners” who betray storytellers and liars?

Is it better to challenge or submit to the forces around us? Who, in the end, can we trust?

Susan Creed