Lynne Jones’ The Naked Truth draws on poetic and musical elements of the spoken word form, taking the audience on a 30-minute journey into her experiences of midlife reinvention.
Jones’ creative persona changes throughout as her identity shifts from poet to song-writer to story-teller to comedian. Whilst this mixing of creative material is welcomed, it is safe to say I favoured the spoken aspect of this performance over the musical, in which the tunes of popular artists were overlaid with fairly repetitive, on-the-nose lyrics about societal conventions.
This is not to say that these themes explored are not of great importance. From the struggles of transgender individuals and the LGBTQ+ community to the ordeals of women navigating pressures of aesthetic beauty standards, body dysmorphia and relationship breakdowns, Jones touches on themes that resonate deeply. However, these were best conveyed when implicitly embedded in engaging, anecdotal storytelling. The unexpected parallels drawn, for instance between PTA meetings and BDSM conventions, stun the audience into engagement. The provocative element of this performance is its unequivocal strength.
The intersection between Jones’ identity as a sexually explorative individual, mother, separated partner and psychotherapist occupies a space that interests the audience. Some of Jones’ performed material was written before the completion of her psychological training, and some after. We witness this shift in her latter material’s sense of introspection and unfiltered reflection. This rawness enables the audience to connect with Jones’ storytelling more personally, whilst she reshapes the stigma around midlife ‘crises.’ Jones portrays life transitions as evoking positive change and newfound confidence.
Whilst the performance had obvious kinks (pardon the pun), from line-forgetting to slight music malfunctions, I can almost look past this as Jones’ final lines resonate. This performance is not about perfection, and instead relatability. Performatively and aesthetically, this show lacked polish. But thematically, Jones’ one-woman stint highlights bravery and surprising versatility. Whilst I, along with the other younger members (and the few men in the audience) were perhaps not the target audience for a show exploring midlife female transition, this didn’t stop widespread laughter at Jones’ relentless, witty delivery.
The Naked Truth is running until the 15th of August at Paradise in Augustines. Buy tickets here.
Image credits to Ralph Pigskin.
