Some of It Might Be True is the debut play from up-and-coming writer and actor Justine Martin. The play tells the story of social media influencer Evie, who is battling with her mental health and eating disorder. Yet online, like most of us, she presents herself as someone who has healed from trauma even while still living at the centre of it.
She directs the audience as though we are her ‘followers’ on social media. Before the play began, Justine handed out pre-written questions to the audience, and then in one scene she does an Instagram ‘live’ where she answers these questions. As the audience were a ‘part’ of this scene, it made the messages of the play more prominent, and it was a thoughtful way of bringing humour in too. Dark comedy was at the forefront, and while the audience were laughing often, I felt, especially at the start, that the humour didn't really hit with me, and felt over-forced into the exaggerations of certain words.
Justine came on and off the stage to show new scenes. The lights dimmed, and then the sound of people's voices in the background, such as from a social media clip, or a comment made online, would play. This was a clever way to show the ‘fakeness’ of social media. And while this did showcase that particular theme, as I'm sure was its purpose, the swift change of scenes, especially at the start, felt very unnatural and disjointed. It took a while for me to feel fully engaged with her character and the story because of this. I originally thought that this was a one-woman production, but there were three other actors too playing the parts of Evie's boss, co-worker, a man on the tube, and later on the animal rights activists. All actors performed their roles brilliantly.
After the character of Evie and her struggles had built up, her company's pre-launch party takes place, which soon follows an absurd drug-induced event. The scene of Evie's hallucination in which ‘God’ delivers an important message to her while Evie is actually calling her mum is definitely a real shift in the story. This brings about the unravelling of Evie's demeanour soon after. This scene really brought the comedic aspect to life, with the absurdity of her eating the shroom chocolate, her hearing God, and the actions that follow.
Some of It Might Be True is refreshing in its honest and unapologetic approach to difficult topics of eating disorders, mental health, debt, social media, and even touching on animal rights in the final part. For themes that may seem juxtaposed in the same story, they somehow work together in an absurd entanglement. For a debut play, the script was impressively polished, and props and sound management were used with well-thought-out purpose.
Some of this might be true is showing at Etcetera Theatre as part of Camden Fringe Festival on 5th, 10th, and 17th August.
Review: Cara-Louise Scott-Lapish