There was a whiff of nostalgia in this family show when an overhead projector (I had a quick look after the show – you can still buy them) was used, complete with acetate sheets. Alfie (Alex Zawalnyski) is eight years old. Yes, he is, he really is. Forget that Zawalnyski is almost as tall as one of the trees he ends up loving so much. He’s playing the character of Alfie, and Alfie is eight years old. Deal with it. He’s even got school uniform on.
Suspension of disbelief activated, it goes up another level, as the show considers what it would be like if trees could write about all the things they have witnessed over the years, decades and sometimes centuries they have been standing. Well, perhaps not all the things, but the milestone moments. He discovers that some nearby woodland is due to be cleared to make way for a commercial development. The myriad ways in which the small company takes the audience into the world of this show was a delight to witness.
The world’s attitudes towards an earnest child raising an actually important point come to the fore here, and the takeaway message is that an opinion or a challenge shouldn’t be discounted just because it comes from a schoolboy. It’s a world of make-believe, where trees have so much power they can even halt their own felling, that I started to wonder if there is a world somewhere out there where trees could lower accommodation rates for Fringe performers (and, if I may be so bold as to suggest it, reviewers). But I think that was, in some strange way, the production’s point – to ignite people’s imaginations until they understand that anything is impossible. A curious and inspiring production.
Review by Chris Omaweng
We all know that trees are alive. But what if there’s a way to learn a tree’s story?
When Alfie’s Grandpa reveals that paper, if made correctly, can tell the story of the tree it came from, Alfie isn’t sure whether to believe him. Once he starts to listen closely, Alfie realises that he is the only one listening. He must spring into action to save the threes from being chopped down.
Laura Hounsell directs writer Alex Zawalnyski plus Morgan Ferguson and Niamh Blane in this fun, frenetic and physical piece.
THE TRUTH ABOUT TREES
Assembly George Square at the Edinburgh Fringe
31 July to 24 August 2025
