THE UGLY ONE. To 13 October.

London

THE UGLY ONE
by Marius von Mayenburg translated by Maja Zade.

Royal Court (Jerwood Theatre Upstairs) To 13 October 2007.
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat Sat 3pm.
BSL Signed 10 )ct.
Post-show Talk 25 Sept.
Runs 55min No interval.

TICKETS: 020 7565 5000.
www.royalcourttheatre.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 20 September.

Rhinoceros gets a makeover?
I doubt playwright Marius von Mayerburg had Ionesco’s play Rhinoceros directly in mind; there are plenty of prompts for his new play in modern life. But it’s certainly a suitable pairing for the Upstairs/Downstairs openings of the Royal Court’s autumn 07 International Season

In the Ionesco everyone turns into rhinos, an emblem of conformity. Lette, Mayerburg’s central character, hadn’t realised he’s thought ugly till his employer won’t let him front a presentation of his newly-designed plug. Then he notices his wife never looks him full in the face. And admits it’s his deeper qualities that attracted her. Nowadays, indeed, she never even notices his appearance.

All changes after a session with a cosmetic surgeon. Fine-featured Lette not only fronts the demo, he’s expected to plug in to the sexually-active, much nip-and-tucked 72-year old female boss of an important corporate client. As his new surface gilds his life, the depths disappear. Success becomes the executioner of invention.

Others want to look better too, going for the identical appearance, the only one Lette’s surgeon can provide. Supply starts exceeding demand and Lette can no longer name his own price.

There may not be much surprising in this theme, and the play needs to keep audiences on its one-trick tightrope. A moment’s feeling it’s all been said before and the glamour fades. But Mayerburg has his own way of intensifying the point. Lette apart, characters share identikit names. Increasing mental agility’s needed to keep track of when, for example, Amanda Drew is Fanny, Lette’s wife, when Fanny the industrialist and when Fanny the surgeon’s assistant.

It throws the concept of ‘character’ – in stage or human terms – into doubt. Ramin Gray’s impeccably acted production twists the pattern further, playing in deliberate low-key style on benches matching audience seating, apart from the revolving chair in which Lette swings between parts of his world, till he loses his sense of self and ends up speaking both sides of a mirror, with both images equally insubstantial.

Capping all this, a (genuine) stage-manager sits visibly, heightening the artifice, with nothing to do until the final, wrenching moment.

Fanny/Fanny/Fanny: Amanda Drew.
Lette: Michael Gould.
Scheffler/Scheffler: Mark Lockyer.
Karlann/Karlmann: Frank McCusker.
Stage Manager: Sarah Tryfan.

Director: Ramin Gray.
Designer: Jeremy Herbert.
Lighting: Charles Balfour.
Sound: Nick Powell.
Assistant director: Philip Thorne.

2007-09-21 12:47:58