THEATRE REVIEW: "THE UGLY ONE" @ ECHO THEATRE
"Beauty’s only Skin Deep, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah": The Ugly One
By: Andrea Braun - Theatre Arts Correspondent
One thing that makes a comedy enjoyable is if the actors look like they’re having fun. After weeks of rehearsal, if they seem like they’re engaged in their situations for the first time, the show is much more likely to turn out to be fresh and amusing. The Ugly One’s four cast members demonstrate that truth. Ben Nordstrom (Lette), Michelle Hand (Fanny), Terry Meddows (Karlmann) and Charlie Barron (Scheffler) give the audience a good time because they seem to be having a blast themselves with this romp through weird science.
Statistics say that about 95% of people think they are average or better looking. Lette, an engineer, is one of those deluded souls whose bubble is burst when both his wife, Fanny, and his boss, Scheffler, tell him he’s ugly. ("Your face is unacceptable.") Lette is so ugly that a co-worker is being sent to a conference to present Lette’s invention, a high voltage connector (the name of which allows for a good deal of double entendre). Fanny tells him she has always "admired you for coping so well with the fact that you are unspeakably ugly." Lette decides to have plastic surgery, and even the surgeon (Barron) isn’t optimistic about his outcome. Sound design and execution during the operation is a comedy highlight.
When the bandages are removed, the mirror reveals an Adonis who quickly becomes a Narcissus. Lette gives the presentation, and he is picked up by a 73-year-old woman who is a plastic surgery addict herself and her gay son, played by Hand and Meddows, respectively. Here is where Lette begins to find that with great beauty comes great expectations. Lette is now unbearably vain. He justifies his adultery with the older woman (and many others) by telling his wife that he owes it to his admirers to give them what they want. He stops doing his job, except for representing the company as its "face man."
I don’t want to give any more plot details because that would ruin too many surprises. Suffice to say that this 55-minute piece crams a lot of fun, and makes some serious points along the way, in its short running time. Is it easy to be beautiful, or does that come with its own set of problems? I think the playwright even manages to address the function of the actor in a self-referential way because while Lette becomes uncomfortable being stared at, the actor courts that very attention. Ordinary people shrink from the gaze that performers seek.
Lette’s surgeon, who compares himself to an artist, turns out to be an Andrea del Sarto; he can achieve perfection but is limited, and that creates a whole new set of trials. In the end, Nordstrom has a scene with himself that is an amazing bit of acting. It is the high point in a show filled with them and with excellent performances all around.
Eric Little is the Orson Welles of the piece—he did everything but write it. Greg Faupel gets a stage manager credit, but Little, the artistic director of Echo Theatre, directed and designed the show. The set is just a wall with a playing space in front and a few pieces of furniture. Little introduces the play, and he tells the audience that he means for it to still look like a store in a mall, unflattering fluorescent lights and all. There are still some downsides to the space. It’s hard to see in the second row (the third is elevated) and most distracting is something that cannot be helped: the ArtSpace in Crestwood Court is still surrounded by some stores, and noise from outside, especially shrieking children, is distracting.
Quibbles aside though, this absurdist frolic by Marius von Mayenburg (translated from the German by Maja Zade) should be on your arts calendar for April. The Ugly One runs through April 19, 2009, at Theatre 134 at Crestwood Court near the Chevy’s. Park in the lower level lot and take the escalator up or park outside Chevy’s. For tickets, call 314-224-4329 or visit www.echotheatrecompany.org.
You can e-mail Andrea at andreabraun@live.com
