Covering some of the same ground as
Iphigenia in Splott, Ffion Jones' debut play
Ugly Lovely follows unemployed Swansea girl Shell (Jones,) starting with her
26th birthday, which everyone has forgotten. She has a boyfriend and a
three-year-old son, but the former has disappeared, presumed to be sleeping around,
while her mother has taken in the latter as she doesn't trust Shell to look after
him. On top of this her grandmother, the only person who seems to have been a
positive influence, has recently died, and the lonely Shell has taken to talking to
the urn with her ashes. So with a lot of time on her hands, she ends up spending
time with her best (only?) friend Tash (Sophie Hughes) in Swansea pubs and clubs,
getting drunk as cheaply as possible. Although framed as a comedy (but without many of the jokes landing*)
Ugly
Lovely is mainly a pretty bleak look at a wasted life, and someone who
understands all too well that she's wasting it.
