Do you ever wonder if there’s something you don’t know? A family secret from the past, perhaps, or a backstory to your partner’s un-blotted copybook? After all, can we ever really, really know someone?

These questions are some of the many asked, and answered, in the explosive new play True Love Lies, which will debut locally at St James Cavalier on Saturday.

Produced by Unifaun Theatre, it follows hot on the heels of their recent success Tender Napalm at the Edinburgh Fringe in August and locally in July. Both showings received positive feedback from critics and audiences alike.

Producer Adrian Buckle explains that True Love Lies is a play about relationships. It is about a family that seems perfect and the harrowing effects of a secret being revealed.

“Why this play and why now?” Buckle repeats my questions back to me, considering his replies.

“Well, local political and ecclesiastical leaders are constantly harping about the Maltese family and the family as a nucleus,” he says. “This is a play about the relationships within a family and how a lie told many years ago to protect your loved ones could have very harrowing effects in the future.”

The story tells of Kane (Jes Camilleri) and Carolyn (Pia Zammit), a married couple with two children, outgoing Madison (Bettina Paris) and geeky Royce (Joe Azzopardi). Their marriage appears to be a happy one and the family comes across as the perfect nucleus.

If there is one thing we try to do at Unifaun, it’s to bring current affairs into the limelight through the arts

However, when Madison tries to get a job as a waitress in a new restaurant run by David Macmillan (Ray Calleja), David discovers she is Kane’s daughter, at which point he refuses to employ her – all based on stories from the past.

“This sparks old urges and reawakened desires,” Buckle continues. “This is the catalyst that quickly sparks the downfall for the family; their lives become unrecognisable.”

Buckle outlines that the aim of Unifaun is to present quality theatre, and True Love Lies fits brilliantly into that.

“I have been reading scripts by Brad Fraser for some time and have been eager to produce one of his plays,” he says.

“True Love Lies emerged as the ideal choice because it is about the family and, in Malta, we value the family greatly. This is a play about relationships and sexual politics and it feels very current.

“If there is one thing we try to do at Unifaun, it’s to bring current affairs into the limelight through the arts. There’s no doubt that this was thus an obvious choice and a great addition to our recent string of productions.”

Speaking about the play’s eclectic characters, Zammit, in the role of the ‘formidable mother’, echoes Buckle’s sentiments that the production is both timely and entertaining – the ideal combination for attracting a theatre audience.

Nevertheless, she is having to dig deep when it comes to creating her character.

“Every show has its challenges,” she says. “The challenge with this one is trying to fit into the skin of someone fundamentally different from myself.”

Carolyn is a Stepford wife, a Bree Vanderkamp (of Desperate Housewives fame), a perfect mother and wife in a perfect nuclear family. Even if things around her are going haywire, she’ll still have dinner on the table, say all the right things and make all the right noises. She strives for ‘normality’. Of course, normality is very rare at the best of times and her family has more than its fair share of secrets.

“I love her character development and how she goes from an average middle-class ‘family first’ mother and wife to coping with her world falling apart and finding the strength to adapt yet still be supportive of everyone.

“She’s quite forbidding and ultimately very strong. I think and act differently to her, however, I think she could teach me a thing or two!”

Meanwhile, the stellar cast brings plenty to the table, while direction is in the hands of the well-known Toni Attard.

“There’s no doubt in my mind that Attard is one of the most exciting directors we have in Malta,” Buckle enthuses. “Together with Marcelle Teuma and Chris Gatt, he is simply the best there is. It is a pleasure to be working with him. His approach has been to focus on the relationship aspect of the play, while also highlighting its comedy yet without sacrificing its pathos and the tragedy.”

Buckle is also quick to dispel old sentiments that Unifaun products set out to shock.

“I think it’s high time that anyone who thinks this way should come to watch one of our plays,” he says.

“Our plays are never about shocking for the sake of it; they are about revealing truths. Sure, they can be hard hitting but so can the truth. Sometimes you have to be shocked to accept the truth. Sometimes the truth is shocking and the only way to present it is in a shocking way.

“But I steadfastly object to the belief that Unifaun present shocking plays. We are not sensational. We simply try to portray the truth as is, without cheating our audience. And that is exactly what True Love Lies promises to do.”

True Love Lies is being staged at St James Cavalier on Saturday and Sunday and October 23-26, 30, 31 and November 1, 2 at 8pm. Tickets may be obtained by phone on 2122 3200 or visit www.sjcav.org.

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