Bonkers satire is a smashing good watch
THE UGLY ONE TRON THEATRE, GLASGOW, 05.07 ◆◆◆◆ POOR Lette. He has got through life as a happily married developer of complicated electrical plugs is horrendously without realising ugly. he
That’s until the news is broken to him, brutally, by his boss, who wants his easier-on-the-eye colleague to present his invention at an important conference. From this already improbable point, The Ugly One escalates into a bonkers satire on plastic surgery and our obsession with appearance. The four-strong cast, including Sally Reid from Scot Squad as Lette’s wife, wear sweet ice-cream colours. They inhabit a box-like stage that is somewhere between private hospital and sinister cocktail bar.
There is live surgery performed on stage, with pieces of fruit standing in for the delicate tissues of the face.
A shockwave goes through the audience as Helen Katamba smashes a watermelon with a hammer, then mashes the liquidy pink flesh. It’s all very fast and hyper-real, which means that some of the poignant moments are rushed to make way for the next funny sequence.
But in between the many laughs, there is still lots to unbandage and consider after the cheers have died down.
● Until July 20.