BBC Four To Broadcast IT'S TRUE, IT'S TRUE, IT'S TRUE

Breach theatre's award winning production It's True, It's True, It's True will be shown on BBC Four this Sunday 9th February at 11pm.

The production is based on transcripts taken from the 1612 trial of Agostino Tassi, who was accused of raping fellow painter Artemisia Gentileschi while he was tutoring her at her father's house. This new film version, shot on location in a former chapel, was specially staged for TV and directed by Billy Barrett and Rhodri Huw. The film is produced by Artemisia Films and Breach and was commissioned by The Space for BBC Arts as part of a season of programming exploring the nude in art across the BBC, which includes Shock of the Nude (BBC Two) and Life Drawing Live! (BBC Four).

Sticking closely to the original research but using modern language and featuring an all-female cast, It's True, It's True, It's True tells what, at first, seems like a tale of female empowerment in the face of ostracization by a male-dominated society. But as the trial progresses and testimonies of situations all-too familiar to a twenty-first century audience begin to emerge, we're left asking how much has really changed in the past 400 years?

Originally commissioned by New Diorama Theatre, the show was one of the undisputed hits of the 2018 and 2019 Edinburgh Festivals - at the vanguard of the cultural aftershock of the #MeToo movement which rippled strongly throughout.

Breach commented "We're so excited to have had this opportunity to share this part of Artemisia's story with a wider audience. It resonates so much with events today, and we hope that audiences across the United Kingdom can engage with it and it can be part of a wider conversation. It's been incredible to have been given this platform to document what is a very important piece to us, and we can't wait for people to see it."

Fiona Morris, Creative Director and CEO, The Space said: "We're delighted to be supporting Breach in this compelling dramatization of the trial of Agostino Tassi. Although depicting events that took place over 400 years ago, the work examines issues that are all too relevant today and deserves to be seen and discussed by the widest possible audience."

BBC Transmission - BBC Four, Sunday 9 February, 11pm, followed by BBC iPlayer

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000f8wq