Heartfelt and festive new writing from Glasgow’s newest theatre company
In the season where panto feels inescapable, it’s a treat to see something that can keep the festive humour, while still telling an emotional story. Inksplat Theatre Company’s first show, The Ugliest F***** Tree in Vanity Lane, is a fun two-hander that while rough around the edges, has a lot of heart.
Ugliest F**** Tree centres on George (Holly Ferguson) and Avery (Elena Gower), a couple who delight in their annual tradition of spying on their neighbours’ Christmas decorations and awarding one truly heinous foliage the Ugliest Tree award. However throughout the following year, while George stays fixated on the one tree that hasn’t been taken down (rather than writing that book she is supposed to be working on), Avery’s career starts taking off, her social life is thriving, and they begin to realise that perhaps their relationship isn’t as perfectly matched as they once thought.
The story is simple but well plotted by co-writers Kathleen Tierney and Noah McGarrity, filled with fun gags and zany one liners – particularly from Holly Ferguson’s George, who perfectly epitomises the weird tangents your mind takes you down when you have nothing to keep you busy (I’m totally convinced by the Jeff Bezos/evil mushroom argument she launches into around the mid-point of the show). Her peppy optimism always keeps the play in motion, and got a lot of love from the audience in a packed Old Hairdressers. Gower’s Avery is a subtler character that balances her clear love for George with her refusal to let herself be slowed down when seeking things she wants. Gower made this dichotomy delicate and meaningful, adding the heart underneath the jokes.
The show was smooth and pacy thanks to the slick work of the stage and tech team, taking us through a whole year in 45 minutes. It felt like every prop and transition had been minutely calculated, never distracting from the story being told but adding fun little moments. The flip chart was a particular masterstroke, creating a visual window into George’s mind. It was a pleasure to watch something where everyone clearly cared so much about creating the best show they could.
Ultimately I feel like the one let down was simply a lack of ambition in the story – it was a well-crafted story of falling out of love with your first big relationship, but it never really dug deep into the issues each character was facing, or the universal appeal of those challenges for an audience. George and Avery simply say goodbye and walk away from each other, but what has this year meant to them, and to us? Inksplat brands itself as a company with a focus on political theatre – so it seems odd that their first show sets itself so firmly in the domestic sphere. I’d love to see how they can apply their narrative and production polish to something with a larger premise.
Author:
Innes Goodall