The Real Thing

‘There are no commitments, only bargains.’ Annie is an actress, Henry is a playwright, and fiction is the backdrop to life. Hardly a recipe for a faithful marriage, especially when it started as an affair. But does it matter how it began if what they have is the real thing? Diving through layers of play and performance, reality and deceit, The Real Thing is Tom Stoppard’s kaleidoscopic comedy of love, infidelity and the stories we tell. Starring James McArdle (Mare of Easttown, The Tragedy of Macbeth) and Bel Powley (Masters of the Air, Everything I Know About Love), and directed by Max Webster (Macbeth, Life of Pi).