Q&A: The Ugly One

After a successful, Dora Award-winning run in 2011, Theatre Smash’s production of German playwright Marius von Mayenburg’s The Ugly One is being remounted this winter as a co-production with Tarragon Theatre (opens Tuesday, January 14). Featuring a powerful cast including Jesse Aaron Dwyre, David Jansen, Hardee T. Lineham and Naomi Wright, this vicious satire about image, identity, and getting ahead in today’s consumer culture is sure to shock and entertain Toronto audiences all over again.

Here, we chat with director Ashlie Corcoran about her experience working on this contemporary black comedy.

Theatromania: Tell us about The Ugly One. How would you describe this play in a few sentences?

AC: The Ugly One is a painfully funny play about image, identity, and getting ahead in today's consumer culture. Using a precisely paired-down form where four actors play eight roles with no traditional scene breaks, the play tells the story of Lette, a successful engineer who is also unspeakably ugly. When a plastic surgeon restructures his face, Lette emerges from the operation an Adonis. His life changes overnight: women lust after him and men want to be him. But this dream life becomes a nightmare, when Lette's surgeon begins to offer his face to anyone who will pay.

Theatromania: Has the production changed at all since Theatre Smash’s staging in 2011?

AC: We were just chatting about this tonight on the way home from our dress rehearsal. I would say—yes. We gave ourselves the opportunity to try new things during this remount. Since we have a bit of a head start this time, we are able to delve deeper than before. I would say that this time the ideas that drive the play, the characters, and the transitions between scenes are more sharply drawn.

Theatromania: What are some of the challenges that you’ve experienced directing this piece?

AC: What a good question! When we first tackled this play in 2011 we were certain that we could approach the acting from a psychological standpoint. Once we finished table work and got up on our feet, we realized that the piece had a different kind of engine—that the three actors playing the Karlmanns, Schefflers and Fannys, are actually primarily there to push, prod and change Lette. Their sole purpose was not psychological, but dramaturgical. This was a challenging way to look at the play, but in the end, it opened it up for us.

Theatromania: Have you learned anything new or significant during this process?

AC: I learn something every day working on this piece—it poses big questions and inspires a lot of discussion. Even though we’ve explored this piece together already, the actors, myself and our stage manager would start each rehearsal talking about the themes and ideas behind the play: consumerism, capitalism, homogeny, beauty, identity and perception. This play seems even more pertinent now than it did two years ago, and it was fascinating to start rehearsal each day with dramaturgical/thematic show and tell, as we drew parallels between the world of the play and the one that we live in.

Theatromania: What’s next for Theatre Smash?

AC: We’re not QUITE ready to announce this yet—but have no fear we are thick in the middle of planning our next project. Please check out theatresmash.com, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to hear our upcoming announcement!

The Ugly One runs until February 16 at Tarragon Theatre. Visit tarragontheatre.com for more information and to buy tickets.

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