The Truth at a glance

Show
The Truth
Venue
Apollo Theatre, West End
Address
31 Shaftesbury Avenue, London W1D 7EZ
Nearest station
Piccadilly Circus (3 min walk)
Genre
Comedy
Running time
90 minutes, no interval
Age guidance
12+ (under-15s must be with an adult aged 18+)
Dates
9 June – 12 September 2026
Schedule
Mon–Sat 8pm; matinees Wed and Sat 3pm
Price range
From £24 (typically £24–£150)
Writer
Florian Zeller (translated by Christopher Hampton)
Director
Lindsay Posner

Expert Review: The Truth at the Apollo Theatre

4.5
★★★★★

LTH Expert Rating

Reviewed by the London Theatre Hub editorial team. Last updated: 20 May 2026.

The Verdict

Florian Zeller is the most commercially successful serious playwright working today, and The Truth is the play that best explains why. It takes a situation — two couples, an affair, a friendship under pressure — and turns the screws with the precision of a watchmaker. The comedy comes from recognition: the lies we tell sound exactly like the lies we recognise from our own lives. And Zeller is too intelligent to let anyone off the hook.

The casting is the production's great strength. Stephen Mangan has the right combination of charm and barely concealed panic for Michel. Ardal O'Hanlon's comedic timing is one of the most reliable instruments in British theatre. Sarah Hadland is criminally underrated. And Janie Dee, a double Olivier Award-winner, is simply one of the finest comic actors working. Ninety minutes with no interval: tight, sharp, and exactly as long as it needs to be. This is the West End summer comedy to book.

What Makes It Special

  • The cast. Mangan, O'Hanlon, Hadland, Dee — four performers at the top of their game in a play that needs comic precision above everything else. This is a perfectly assembled company.
  • Florian Zeller's writing. The Oscar-winning playwright of The Father writes comedy that cuts. The laughs are real, the discomfort is real, and the two happen simultaneously. It is a harder trick than it looks.
  • Christopher Hampton's translation. Hampton is the gold standard for bringing French drama into English — his credits include Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Atonement, and Zeller's own The Father. The language is as precise as the plotting.
  • 90 minutes, no interval. A reminder that brevity and ambition are not opposites. The play says everything it needs to say without overstaying its welcome.
  • Lindsay Posner's direction. An Olivier Award-winner known for bringing clarity and warmth to classic comedy. His productions of Noises Off and Death and the Maiden show he understands exactly how to balance laughs with dramatic weight.

You'll love The Truth if you...

  • Want intelligent, star-driven West End comedy
  • Are a fan of Florian Zeller, Mangan, O'Hanlon, or Janie Dee
  • Appreciate comedy that makes you think as well as laugh
  • Want a short, sharp evening — 90 minutes, home by 10pm
  • Love French comedy in the Feydeau tradition — fast, precise, slightly cruel

It might not be for you if you...

  • Prefer longer, more emotionally immersive drama
  • Find comedies about infidelity uncomfortable rather than funny
  • Are not familiar with Zeller — the style is distinctive and not for everyone
  • Are bringing children under 12

Best for

  • Date night
  • Comedy lovers
  • Zeller fans
  • After-dinner theatre
  • Groups of friends
  • West End summer treat

Not suitable for under-12s. Not the best choice for those seeking epic or immersive drama.

Critical Reception

Previous productions of The Truth have received strong critical notices internationally. This new West End revival opens 9 June 2026. Based on the play's track record and the strength of the cast and creative team, critical reviews are eagerly anticipated.

  • The Observer "A pitch-perfect hit"
  • The Guardian "A funny and devious must-see"
  • The Times "A razor-sharp marital comedy"

Source: critical notices from previous international productions of The Truth. West End reviews will be updated from opening night.

Everything You Need to Know

What happens in The Truth?

Michel is a man conducting a secret affair with Alice, the wife of his best friend Paul. He is also, by his own admission, very good at lying. As the afternoon trysts begin to bleed into late-night interrogations, Michel's carefully maintained network of alibis starts to fracture — and the dangerous question of what his wife, Laurence, actually knows begins to press more and more urgently.

The game

Zeller structures the play as a series of rapid-fire scenes, each one a variation on the same basic situation: two people in a room, one of whom may or may not be telling the truth. The scenes accumulate like a card game where the stakes keep rising and nobody at the table is sure what hand anyone else is holding.

The four characters

Michel (Mangan) is charming, resourceful, and increasingly desperate. Paul (O'Hanlon) is his best friend — amiable, trusting, and possibly not as oblivious as he appears. Laurence (Dee) is Michel's wife — sharp, composed, and possibly several moves ahead of everyone. Alice (Hadland) is the woman caught between the two men. Each of the four has their own version of events. Exactly one of those versions is reliable, and the play is not going to tell you which one.

The cost

Zeller's plays tend to end in the same place: with the audience understanding something that the characters cannot articulate, and finding that understanding more uncomfortable than funny. The Truth is his most accessible work, but it is not a comfortable play. It asks what honesty would actually cost in any of these relationships — and suggests the answer is everything.