REVIEW: TRUTH'S A DOG MUST TO KENNEL @ THEATRE ROYAL PLYMOUTH

🎭 Truth's A Dog Must To Kennel

📍  The Drum, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Royal Parade, Plymouth, Devon, PL1 2TR

🗓 Friday 14th November 2025

⭐️⭐️

DARK AND PESSIMISTIC

With galaxies of five-star ratings and promises of experimental theatre I was looking forward to seeing this show. Its title is a quote from King Lear, arguably one of Shakespeare’s bleakest tragedies, and sets the scene as the Drum stage is a black emptiness devoid of any clues as to what is to come.

Tim Crouch arrives quietly on stage in everyday wear, sporting a virtual reality headset. Through this he sees and proceeds to describe a far plusher theatre experience than that of the space we currently occupy. One with box seats and expensive tickets where wealthy audience goers partake of pre theatre meals and the impecunious stand at the back – unless they are a Chancer. He points to various members of the actual audience and labels them with their virtual reality counterparts, a strangely alienating experience.

He then turns his attention to the stage where a modern dress production of King Lear has reached Act Three describing the sodden wasteland the protagonists find themselves in and drawing comparisons with the real world. Apparently to his discomfort he seems to be playing the Fool, a character I have long considered the lone voice of sanity in Lear and is horrified by the conditions in which he finds them all leaving him as a Fool with no jokes.

From time to time Crouch removes the headset to admit it is a fake and inform us that this is all the show will comprise. Sometimes these back-in-the-room moments take the form of pseudo standup with wry, occasionally crude, jokes and observations which also serve to hold us at arm’s length.

We were sat in the second row back and for a large amount of the show I could not hear what was being said. I am hard of hearing with my hearing aids turned up to what would normally be a painful level. As Crouch raced through the dialogue and then spoke with his back to us most of the time, the show was not accessible to me which was hugely disappointing as the brief snatches I heard contained vivid, lyrical prose. I sat for a large portion of the show wishing, like Crouch’s Fool, I could leave before the interval.

Tim Crouch proposes the motion that Theatre is dying and has not recovered from the pandemic closures. The show appears to be an obituary to his career and Theatre in general plus a societal comment on the unwillingness of audiences to leave their homes and streaming devices to turn up for live Theatre. Ironically playing to an almost full house it seemed a pessimistic view. The whole production left a bitter taste in my mouth which I feel would have been present even had I heard every word.

Rosie Sharman-Ward

All views are my own and I pride myself on being honest, fair and free from influence. Theatre is subjective and it is important to remember that all views expressed are just those of one person.

My ticket for this performance of Truth's A Dog Must To Kennel was gifted by Theatre Royal Plymouth who invited me to watch the show on behalf of Pink Prince Theatre in exchange for my honest review. The fact that my ticket was gifted played no part in the content of my review or the star rating given.

STARRING:

Tim Crouch

RUNNING TIME (approx):

1 hour 10 minutes, with no interval

AGE GUIDELINE:

14 +

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