Ugly Lies the Bone review, Lyttelton

During her third tour of duty in Iraq, Jess stands on a landmine and returns to the US burned, disfigured, and disabled. To regain a level of mobility Jess has to exercise but the scabs make her skin tight so even small movements are excruciatingly painful. She is sent for Virtual Reality therapy - to  a tailored world where her favourite memories and landscape are created to put her in a euphoric state. While transported, she moves her body more easily, slowly regaining physical autonomy.

Away from the lab, things are less simple. Her dream of returning to teaching is dashed. She is in no fit state either emotionally or physically. She reconnects with the boyfriend she lost when she returned to Iraq. Steve's been avoiding her, but when they finally connect, he can see the girl he once loved through the ruined body and cruel disfigurement. However, his life has changed too, and when he tries to create a special moment for her, it goes horribly wrong.

Ugly Lies the Bone is an interesting play and a salutory reminder that lives are changed everyday by conflict. The paralympics have done a lot to educate the British public about disability and disfigurement and that makes the job harder for Ugly Lies the Bone which offers  little insight or illumination. The dialogue is ploddy, the characterisation is brushstrokes. This may be a problem with the script, or with Indu Rubasingham's production, or it may be the staging. Ugly Lies the Bone is an intimate story. On the enormous Lyttelton stage the tiny cast is dwarfed by the CGI of Jess's virtual reality world. It doesn't help that everyday reality is presented in cartoon furniture and colours.

In conclusion: Kate Fleetwood gives a creditable performance as Jess, but she feels substantially more mature than the posse of comic book caricatures that comprise her back-home peer group. The piece, by Lindsey Ferrentino would benefit from a smaller space that would better hold and reflect a play of this size and scope.



Lyttelton Theatre, South Bank, London SE1.  Run ends June 6