One For The Ugly Girls

16 May 2013 | 1:37 pm | Kate Kingsmill

Some attention to subtlety and abstraction would have made it a more intriguing play.

Grief, nudity and a case of mistaken identity shape the story of One For The Ugly Girls, by Adelaide playwright Tahli Corin. Alistair is a vaguely successful painter who has lost his mojo since his wife died. He hires a model as a muse to re-inspire him and when the woman who turns up is not who he was expecting, trouble and drama ensue. And so does the nudity. Thirty seconds into the 70-minute play there is full frontal nudity and it continues like an episode of Californication from there. Jade, the model (Lori Bell) is rough as guts and on the defensive, and she and Alistair start immediately on the wrong foot. It becomes clear she's uncomfortable with the situation, but throws herself into trying to help Alistair get his groove back, with a kind of awkward, rough charm. It's when the real Jade (Hannah Norris) turns up that the psychodrama amps up and things get slightly more interesting. The script is clear in its thematic vision – questions of beauty, grief, memory and power are all explored, but the details fail to draw you in. Some attention to subtlety and abstraction would have made it a more intriguing play. 

La Mama Theatre to Sunday 19 May