Review: APPARENTLY UGLY - A STEPSISTER STORY, Underbelly Boulevard
Photo credit: Luci Stansfield
Apparently Ugly debuts at the Underbelly Boulevard this weekend - a modern, slightly edgy, intimate and immersive cabaret style venue in the heart of Soho. This fully accessible venue, featuring an Art Deco style bar and on-site cafe, offers a high tech theatre space with a fully automated auditorium, and prides itself on embracing creativity alongside having a strong festival/Fringe following.
Nicky Douglas, a writer/performer originally from New Zealand, wears multiple hats for this production. Not only is he the writer, responsible for the book, music and lyrics, he is also director and performs in the role of Mother. Apparently Ugly marks Nicky’s UK debut as a composer and lyricist but we do feel he undersells himself by not listing himself as a cast member in much of the publicity!
For a piece heading to the Edinburgh Fringe in August, producer Rachel Duncan provides strong support, having experienced insight into what works for this type of producing model as they are no stranger to involvement with the Fringe. Rachel is also artistic director of ERA Theatrical Productions, a company that produces theatre by female, non-binary and queer artists. Assistant director Becky Hoyle is also on hand. Becky read for the part of Olga during a staged reading in 2022 and now returns to the piece on the other side of the table. Production manager René Alfaro ensures the multiple tracks, sound effects and light cues all run to time. These are used heavily to support the storytelling in the show with the set being very minimal. Sarah Douglas completes the production team on costumes and brings a wealth of experience in her field.
Fabrics for the set and costumes are well researched, with inspiration being taken from the Spice and Grand Bazaar’s of Istanbul in terms of colour and textiles. The set is very minimal meaning it is easy to transport and pack down, key with the Fringe in mind. It consists of a fixed backdrop using lighting for the majority over physical set, aside one revolving triangular prism structure made up of three wooden frames, latched together (periaktoi) on castors; an idea that came from Hellenistic to later Renaissance theatre and is still used today. These allow scenes to be changed quickly and easily, and are transportable. The audience enter the auditorium to a scene fronted with a jagged gold mirror, particularly relevant for a piece surrounding themes of image, and is able to be rotated to portray either a market place or forest as well.
Set changes happen purposefully in plain sight but do not often attract much specific attention as the cast frequently pass through the audience space detracting the focus. There are, however, occasions when these presented some challenges and the next scene had begun but as the actors made it to the stage, they then had to turn the Periaktoi, and there were occasions when it had to be adjusted mid-scene due to the intended lines of imagery not quite aligning with its placement. This does not overly detract though considering, for the majority, the fourth wall doesn’t exist during this piece with much narrated storytelling, audience engagement and the honesty to it being a tale.
An idea 11 years in the making but first workshopped in 2021, Nicky went on to continue the development of the characters further. Following this, a staged reading was performed in 2022 with the now assistant director Becky Hoyle reading for the part of Olga.
The narrative follows the ‘ugly sisters’ and their mother as they return from the wedding of Cinderella, with the familiar quarrelling that we can recall from the fairytale of their creation set to continue. In the midst of their bickering, the realisation dawns on them surrounding the void or should we say chores that Cinderella is no longer on hand for. As the story progresses, we begin to see a previously unrecognised vulnerability to the apparently ‘ugly’ sisters, which offers a different perspective. We now have a pair of well known protagonists with their own personality arcs, the question posed being, have they previously been stereotyped and misunderstood?
The relationship between the sisters and their mother also transitions from what could previously have been described as somewhat permissive parenting leading into full blown rejection, incurring psychosocial flaws and a very unhealthy sense of self worth. As the story concludes, the message is: beauty is not skin deep and lies more in qualities such as kindness and bravery that lay within. There is no big transformation, no rags to riches, in fact the true beauty is found when the gowns are stripped back. There is no formal ‘happy ever after’ here, but after being sent on a quest that turns out to be a quite an unexpected journey of self discovery, the sisters come to realise that beauty doesn’t poise quite the importance it is often portrayed to. They begin to see that what is more valuable is the realisation of not what they don’t have but what they already do have, alongside what they have in each other and that is more than enough. As Nicky stated in an interview for the New Current, “we live in a world that highlights and encourages striving for perfect but it just isn’t reachable and nor should it be glorified to be.” On a deeper level here, there is also the message that what our mind tells us can inflect in the image we see in the mirror. We are encouraged to embrace our flaws and realise that our choices, behaviours and inner qualities can have more precedence over making us beautiful, from the inside. A good message for all ages!
This is a family show but there are also some jokes cleverly delivered for the adults’ enjoyment too. The piece does make effort not to be classed as a pantomime but currently sits somewhere between this and a musical with identifiable features of both; maybe it has potential to be developed into either. Out of season panto is seemingly an increasingly popular notion and this show is largely comedic and interactive, however it does have the structure of a story and multiple tracks on this original score to be celebrated too. The more recently added title song appears approximately halfway through the hour-long piece and is designed to add more emotional poignance here. Although other tracks also hold their space, by far the most memorable track is ‘You’re Ugly’ as Mother steps out of permissive parenting to go full out protagonist stealing the spotlight. This track is one that stays in your head long after the show. Nicky’s delivery of this and his animated characterisation as Mother generally, in his exuberant costumes designed and made by his actual mother, is delightfully flamboyant. Well timed comedic chaos with an inflection of dark exuberance and a great vocal range.
In addition to Nicky, the cast is made up of Chloe Way (Olga) and Amber Hegarty (Agnes) who bring enthusiasm and investable characterisation to the apparently ugly sisters, and Elliott Wooster as the Godfather who also has an enjoyable stage presence alongside an entertaining comedic interlude cameo part during the market scenes.
A new initiative with only one performance to impress. We feel there is scope to develop further here but in terms of new theatre, it has a lot to be proud of and we wish Apparently Ugly all the best for the Fringe!
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Claire Baker