THE UGLY ONE

GRIFFIN THEATRE INDEPENDENT

…a painfully hilarious and disturbing satire on the contemporary obsession with appearance… Alison Croggon, The Australian

“Stop wanting to be different.”

Lette thinks he’s normal. But he’s wrong. His personal marketability is dire and his wife thinks he’s unspeakably ugly. Banned from presenting his newly invented plug at a Swiss convention, the mild-mannered Lette takes matters into his own hands with some transformative aesthetic surgery. The operation is a raging success – after the bandages come off women want him, men want to be him and the surgeon’s even thinking of cloning him. It’s not long, though, before Lette learns there might be such a thing as too beautiful.

Marius Von Mayenburg (Moving Target, Eldorado,The Cold Child), one of Germany’s finest writers, has crafted a pitch perfect black comedy and scalpel-sharp social satire about identity and contemporary narcissism. A modern day allegory that asks the question – how far would you go to fit in?

Following critically acclaimed productions across Australia, including a sold-out season with Melbourne Theatre Company in 2010, Sydney audiences now have the chance to experience Von Mayenburg’s hilarious black comedy for themselves in this the final Griffin Independent show for 2011.

This premiere Sydney production will be helmed by young up-and-coming director Sarah Giles, who doggedly pursued the rights, winning out in a keen competition over the many other young and established directors keen to tackle one of the hottest plays of the last few years. Giles, a NIDA graduate, Resident Director at Griffin in 2009 and Sydney Theatre Company’s 2011 Richard Wherrett Fellow, comes to the Stables off the back of Money Shots developed with the STC’s residents and currently playing at the Wharf. The Ugly One marks Giles’ return to The Stables Theatre following her debut direction of The Pigeons for Griffin Independent last year. Giles’ directorial choices show her strong interest in new writing, both Australian and international, and an intriguing inclination towards the absurd.

An Arts Radar and Griffin Independent Sydney Premiere Production.

Arts Radar is supported by the NSW Government through Arts NSW.