In these fake-news days, when fiction rules the cybersphere and truth is called a lie (and vice versa), the lifespan of a fact can be the length of a tweet (if it’s not stillborn). The play now running at TheaterWorks in Hartford help but be viewed against this background, but The Lifespan of a Fact is concerned with a subtler distinction. As director Tracy Brigden says in her program note, “When does a bit of embellishment become a lie?”

