Our Partners
WELCOME TO THE
POST-TRUTH AGE
Francesca Beard’s Post Truth Apocalypse is a show about lies, lying and liars. It’s a show, therefore, about all of us.
This website is a celebratory confessional, a place to share past lies and to be honest about the fact that we will certainly lie again. If we are honest about our lies, we will take greater responsibility for this power we have.
So please donate a lie to the cause, but do bear in mind that you are responsible for your own health and safety.
DONATE A LIE
Required field
ABOUT THE SHOW
Spoken word artist Francesca Beard is your sham-shaman, on an epic adventure through a wonderland of lies, fictions, Wikipedia facts and the stories we tell ourselves. Through a series of fabulous encounters, this show explores make-believe in its many forms, from political spin, to polite half-truths, to the lies we live by: ‘Capitalism is a meritocracy’; ‘Grandma, I love this cardigan’; ‘Yes, I have read the terms and conditions’.
Francesca 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 T ape Back-up, SEXY) this new show explores our place in a new “post-truth” 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?’
SHOW DATES
No shows booked at the moment.
A POST-TRUTH APOCALYPSE
SURVIVAL GUIDE
The following advice is given by someone who is not a vegetarian, scientist or moderate drinker.
AT HOME
Get an allotment and grow your own kale. Not only your skin, but your conscience will be glowing. Factory farming is horrific and livestock are a major cause of environmental damage. Embrace a plant-based diet, save the whales and the cows.
AT WORK OR ELSEWHERE
Spend time you should have been working, but would have wasted on social media, reading the thoughts of Confucius, Socrates, Gandhi, Dr Seuss et al, so you can step up to bullies and highlight institutional injustice with an extirpating quote. Plus, share the headspace of great thinkers from history rather than people you are glad you don’t really know from facebook.
IN THE OPEN
Borrow a tent. Lie awake under the stars. (You will be too cold and uncomfortable to sleep.) Contemplate your infinitesimal place in the universe. Return home, teary with gratitude for your mildewed shower. (If you actually live rough and only wish you had a mildewed shower, I am so sorry.)
TAKE COVER
This person in the picture has got no hands or feet and her house is too small to stand up in. She does have a big pillow though and she is focusing on living in the now. She is a ‘house half have’ kind of person which is a good attitude for surviving a post-truth apocalypse.
ARCHIVE OF LIES
CREDITS
Written and Performed by Francesca Beard
Directed and Dramaturged by Rob Watt
Produced by Tom MacAndrew
This show is developed from the theatrical piece
How to Survive a Post-Truth Apocalypse, which
toured nationally in early 2018.
How to Survive a Post-Truth Apocalypse
Written and Performed by Francesca Beard
Directed and Dramaturged by Rob Watt
Produced by Tom MacAndrew
Lighting Design by Charlie Morgan Jones
Video and Costume Design by Shawn Soh
Sound Design by Jethro Cooke
Show image by Matthew Misfud
Photography by Suzi Corker
Web design by Murphy & Murphy
Developed from the A Lie, a collaboration
between Francesca Beard and Hannah Jane Walker,
and with support from Apples and Snakes, Improbable,
Cambridge Junction and Roundhouse.
CONTACT
For more information:
