Following a sell-out performance at London’s Roundhouse, Francesca Beard’s one-woman show How To Survive A Post-Truth Apocalypse returns for an exciting UK tour. Beard mixes storytelling, verse, spoken word, audience interaction and a game of ‘Whose Lie Is It Anyway’ as she leads audiences on a journey to explore lies in all their forms and what it means to be human.
Returning to the stage after a ten-year absence, spoken word artist Beard brings us her first full length show about a stranger than fiction underworld of lies, fabrications and ‘facts’. Through a series of fabulous encounters, audiences will hear many lies from political spin, to polite half-truths, to the lies we live by: ‘Capitalism is a meritocracy’, ‘Grandma, I love this cardigan’ and ‘Yes, I have read the terms and conditions’.
Beard is one of the most successful spoken word artists in the UK and has developed
innovative work such as Chinese Whispers and Animal Olympics. Directed by Rob Watt, (Standby for Tape Back-Up, UK tour), How To Survive A Post-Truth Apocalypse explores our place in a new ‘posttruth’ world that’s had enough of experts, but not enough of Donald Trump. It asks: ‘What is the global cost of make-believe?’, ‘Are all humans liars?’ and ‘Can the truth set us free?’.
Beard comments, Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been fascinated by the blurred lines between imagination and reality. It’s the realisation of a dream, to make a show that explores the exhilarating risks and responsibilities of our most incredible super-power: story-telling. It feels vital to tour it at this surreal time, where our leaders spin fantasies of fear from fictional facts and the man with the hugest nuclear button lives in a cloudy consensus reality where climate change is a myth.
Spoken word is us, standing up and representing our truths, bearing witness to other, different realities. I hope that audiences leave this show feeling clarity about uncertainty and empowered to share the stories that make our world a kinder, stronger place.
