The Ugly One - Park Theatre
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
THE TEN year anniversary production of Marius von Mayenburg’s biting dark comedy, The Ugly One, runs at Park Theatre (Park90) from June 1 to June 24, 2017.
Translated by Maja Zade and directed by 2016 JMK award-winner Roy Alexander Weise, The Ugly One is a razor-sharp comedy about the dangers of living in a society with oppressive beauty standards.
It follows Lette, a talented engineer, who thought he was an average guy finally about to move up in the world.
But he wasn’t average at all. He was ugly. Very ugly, in the eyes of… well, everyone. And he wasn’t going anywhere. So he decided to make a change. To his face. But when the bandages came off he discovered that he might now possibly be too beautiful.
The Ugly One, which follows Weise’s sell-out production of The Mountaintop at the Young Vic, is the first of two productions in 2017 in which he looks at superficiality in society. The second is the National Youth Theatre’s female-led production of Jekyll and Hyde, part of the National Youth Theatre’s 2017 West End Season at the Ambassadors Theatre.
The Ugly One is presented by Buckland Theatre Company in association with Park Theatre.
Also at Park Theatre: the world premiere of a brand new comedy Twitstorm (May 31 to July 1) and Sir Ian McKellen’s one man show Shakespeare, Tolkien, Others & You (July 3 to July 9, 2017).