The Ugly One | AllEntertainment
The Ugly One is the inaugural production at the brand new PIP Theatre in Milton, and its a delightful first offering. Written by German playwright Marius Von Mayenburg and translated into English by Maja Zade, this translation was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2007.
The play, a social satire, explores the contemporary obsession with beauty and career, with social standing, with insecurity. The biting crux is the downfall of the protagonist, from early days blissfully aware of his own shortcomings and therefore without want, to the sudden fulfilment of every unasked-for earthly desire, and finally the real truth, that it is very lonely being a favoured Adonis, whom everybody wants a piece of but no one really wants to know the person behind the mask.
This performance is lively and light-hearted, not skirting away from its darker undertones but embracing them with a jaunty devil-may-care attitude. It’s an absurd play, with the supporting actors playing multiple characters each with the same name; which had me tumbling for clarity on a couple moments. It is relentless; the scenes blur quickly into, across, under and over each other, and the actors did a fantastic job of taking us along for a ride with them.
As ever, I love a simple set, and for the most part the stage was set merely with two projected boxes of light, much like a contemporary xennials bedroom it faded in and out of teal blue feature light and glowing fuschia wash.
Director Calum Johnston has set out to have fun with this well-turned play, and has achieved said aim; laughter speckles the room regularly. Gimmicks of stage plotting abound, with the performers coming in for pointed scenes of dialogue at a mere few centimetres distance from each other, and walking in strict right-angled paths across the stage to create corridors, waiting rooms and surgeries where there are none. And for the most part this works amusingly well. There are one or two scenes where the gimmick seems all too much for the moment, and one startling moment when the fourth wall is unexpectedly discarded, but I’ll also give a little leeway for opening night wrinkles that will no doubt be ironed out as the season finds its legs.
A masterful performance by all the cast, with the three supporting actors (Jai Selva, Ellie Waddingham, David O’Donoghoe) jumping in and out of different characters with ease. The lead was played by David Gaffney, who brought to play to a rousing finish with a beautifully hectic monologue a la descent into madness, and a final tender scene of self-love, acceptance and blissful redemption.
