In a well-attended Lemon Tree studio theatre, I took my seat to see the latest offering from the award-winning playwright Rona Cameron and the MsFits theatre company The Good, the bad and the Botoxed . This comedy drama takes the form of a many-character one-woman show played brilliantly by Fiona Knowles. Set in a beauty salon, three women at different stages of their life, share with us the same vanities, or at least the vanities that modern society enforces on all of us, but more heavily women, about appearances.
From scene to scene Fiona Knowles moves through the main characters from the 17 year old beautician, to the middle aged mother of the groom, to the 78 year old Etta each explaining what they are doing in the salon and in turn learning more about their own vanities which other people have imposed upon them. The show steps up a gear when all three women are taken in a hostage situation by a deranged ex-patient threatening revenge for a beauty treatment, which has left her with a permanently surprised look on her face. In this situation the characters unfold further and in this clarity they are able to see the truth that beauty comes from within, and the only appendage required to make one beautiful is after all a smile.
This is an entertaining show that puts an uncomplicated message across very well. This is no “nip/tuck”, in dee d we feel when Beryl, the mother of the groom who is urged to have cosmetic surgery by her American daughter-in-law-to-be's mother, that it is this popular culture that seems to come from the USA that is the enemy. The script is tight, the drama keeps it moving along and whilst there are many smiles there weren't too many belly laughs amongst the predominantly female audience.
Going to the gents after the show it was strangely quiet. Free from a mass of male faces clustered around the mirrors straightening their hair or applying moisturiser, as I left I did feel it was appropriate to take a moistened pinkie across my eyebrows to straighten them, before heading out into the cold night air.
