Ugly lies the bone - National Theatre

I popped along to this yesterday afternoon as I was in the area, and looking for a matinee. I nabbed right of centre row C of the stalls for a £15 travelex ticket. The view was wonderful, despite the lack of a rake, however the biggest problem I had was the lack of legroom. I barely squeezed in (at 6' 3") but luckily the seat to my right was unoccupied so I could turn myself this way - craning my neck as I watched the action on my left though. Despite that, I sucked it up and enjoyed the play.

I wasn't sure what to make of this at first, but I think I loved it. It was quirky, not like anything I'd seen recently, and made me think about judging people based on only knowing one side of a story. We were encouraged to believe that Kelvin was such a loser, but he challenged this perception and by the end I had a different opinion of him.

Looking at availability on the NT site, this seems to be having real difficulty in selling. The theme of this one screams Dorfman to me, not Lyttleton. Could it not have fitted in there?

Saw this last night from the front row of the circle. I'm still collating my thoughts - I started out being unsure and ended up almost loving it.  The story has already been told above, so I'll just give my general thoughts.

The first ten minutes were not good for me - the American accents were obviously fake and I'm in agreement with some on here that Olivia Darnley wasn't very good. As already pointed out, she played the part as though she'd been told to speak up after the matinee. It wasn't just the shouting, but the fact that there was no diversity to her performance whatsoever that bothered me. Every single line was presented in the same, loud manner. I also felt that Kate Fleetwood couldn't give her best when in the two-handers with her as she was given nothing to play with.

From the front of the dress circle I couldn't really see Jess's disfigurement at all. Also, I was slightly stage left of centre. You need to be stage right of centre (I'd say from seat 15 onwards) due to the right cheek being the one with the burns and also the off centre position of the sofa. What I could see, however, was the brilliance of Kate Fleetwood's depiction of pain, how she held herself throughout. Each part of her body that didn't work properly was rigid whether she was sitting, standing, lying or moving about. I would imagine she'd need some serious physiotherapy after a double show!

I didn't really think much of Ralph Little's Stevie. Until, that is, his two 2-handers with Jess when I completely changed my mind about him. They were outstanding and I wished there had been more. We also got to see a better side of Kate Fleetwood, which was absent during her scenes with Olivia Darnley. The silence during Jess's scene with Stevie near the end after The Big Reveal was absolutely deafening.  Perfectly timed with silent emotion.  Wonderful stuff.   

Kris Marshall was the one reason I almost didn't go and see this. I've never liked anything he's done on telly (not seen him in the theatre before) as I think he plays everything like an overgrown teenager. So they gave him the part of ........ an overgrown teenager. Ingenious casting and, for me, he was the best thing in it! Again, not enough. Not nearly enough.

For me, however, the weakest aspect was the direction. It felt as though every ounce of energy had been poured into Miss Fleetwood's movement and stance to the detriment of everything else. For example. Jess is a burns victim. There is a scene where a lighter is ignited, after which I lost the next 3 minutes as my mind was furiously playing over 10 other scenarios as to how I'd have done it. There were many such moments that were just thrown away.

I have to mention the virtual reality projections - pretty much lost on me, although I quite liked them - but I was with a music student who works with people who study and work in this medium and she was seriously impressed.

I think this would be a great play for GCSE or A level.  There are so many themes to it and also many of the scenes that end abruptly would be perfect as a basis for students to write a continuation.  I also think it would be a good one for a school to put on if they were looking for something with a small cast.  It's short, cheap on set and costumes and would give the techies within the school something meaty to attempt.

I really enjoyed it - by the end I wanted more - and was surprised at how full the Lyttleton was. 

Edit:  mallardo Kate Fleetwood did indeed get her own bow - not sure if that's down to you!

^LOL! Who the heck is Kate Flynn? Thanks @baemax - time enough to edit!

That'll teach me to write reviews before the third cup of coffee.

Ugly Lies the Bone is the one show that I've seen (or plan to see) at the NT this year (although I admit I've seen My Country on tour locally and have booked to see Jane Eyre locally). I was drawn to attend by the prospect of a new play from a new voice with interesting themes, the tantalising promise of innovative design technology in the Lyttelton which is open to spectacular design, several enticing cast members, and the Travelex pricing which is more affordable than the generally offputting NT prices for the good seats.

There are only four or five of these Travelex shows each year and it's an embarrassing failure if the NT can't manage to fill the theatre for all of them. There must be hordes of potential attenders who are completely unaware of reviews. And some of my listed reasons would surely also attract them.

Obviously my own comments posted in this thread when I'd seen the show were not entirely positive. (!) But it really seems like a calamitous abuse of the Travelex sponsorship to produce a show and be unable to fill it. It really isn't that bad! There must be groups who could have been reached out to who would have enjoyed their visit and wouldn't otherwise have attended.

"It's your national theatre" (if you're already a member).

I assumed Monkey's winky face was his way of saying he's fully aware such shows exist, like Phantom of the Opera or Richard III...

Well, I feel very foolish now....

Ugh!  

But I'm giggling.  I may steal that term.

Glad you liked it by the way.  I too thought it was great and was also very pleasantly surprised at Kris Marshall.

Good review theatremonkey