Peter Shaffer

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Theatre Bookshelf: 'White Liars'

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[White Liars] explores the narrow gap between truth and reality, and how one eventually accepts fiction for fact. Set in a fortune-teller's booth, it shows three characters … the supposedly aristocratic clairvoyant, and two of her clients, twisting the truth to suit their wishes. I feel that it is more effective in presenting the harsh truth than was [the] original script in which a fourth character … intervened in the thought processes of the woman, and created confusion in the situation and development of the theme.

Truth is relative, but there is no doubt that in this play we see the work of a master playwright, someone who understands the medium of the theatre and the demands of a modern, intelligent audience. (p. 82)

Doris M. Day, "Theatre Bookshelf: 'White Liars'," in Drama, No, 126, Autumn, 1977, pp. 80, 82.

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