Photos by Ryan Loyd, Rylo Media Design
The Lifespan of a Fact isn’t a perfect play. But director Suzy Newman, her creative team, and the three actors who carry SLO REP‘s current production of it give us something that’s pretty darn close to perfection.
After providing a well-deserved standing ovation for the show on opening night, some audience members filed out of the theatre in silent awe while others immediately began dissecting the debate that serves as the heart of the play. Both are fitting reactions to this production, skillful and passionate in its portrayal of a creative writer, a fact-checker, and an editor with a deadline who has to mediate between the two.
The conflict revolves around the question of journalistic integrity vs. inspirational story-telling; can facts be fudged a bit in service of creating a more compelling tale? Any preconceived opinions you might have on the subject may not change by the end of the play, but it’s guaranteed that the 90 minutes you spend with SLO REP’s production will give your brain an absorbing, thought-provoking, and thoroughly entertaining workout.
The play is a 2018 adaptation of a book of the same name, published in 2012, that explores notions of truth and accuracy, fact and fiction, and what we can and can’t know in story-telling. What do writers owe readers in producing works of “creative nonfiction”?
Kelly Brown—intuitive and nimble—plays the fact-checker, building his character from obsequious underling to nit-picking pedant to strident advocate in a smooth arc that brings us along with his determined questions and his dedication to journalistic “truth.”
Melinda Parrett is practically flawless as the editor who can intimidate or placate as needed, sometimes with a simple flick of her wrist or a raised eyebrow. Her performance may give off Miranda Priestly/The Devil Wears Prada vibes, but with a humanity underneath that shows up in her increasing aggravation as the writer and the fact-checker dig in their heels over their differences.
Ben Abbott’s performance as the writer who insists that he has written not an “article” but an “essay” underscores his character’s convictions with a ferocity that culminates in an authentic-looking physical assault on the fact-checker.
That confrontation provokes the play’s most extreme reactions—from the characters and from the audience. But there are other bits of body language, subtle and telling, that work just as effectively to keep us glued to the show’s comedic as well as serious elements.
In addition to the fine work of this show’s cast and director, the picture-perfect creative work of scenic designer Dave Linfield, lighting and sound designer Kevin Harris, and projection designers Ryan Flores and Nick Merzon is worth more than a thousand words.
Relatively late in the production, the writer utters the line “I’m not interested in accuracy—I’m interested in the truth.” How the playwright, and the audience in turn, interprets the difference is what drives this nuanced and fascinating debate.
What draws us up short in the end, however, is that The Lifespan of a Fact is a war of words about words that uses silence—specifically 48 seconds of silence—just as effectively. Don’t miss SLO REP’s surprising, terrific production—and the after-show discussions it will undoubtedly inspire.