The Message of the Play

Several connected lessons flow from the play, and together they form its message.

First, a person should not be judged — nor should judge himself — by outward appearance. Physical disfigurement or disability says nothing about a person's true worth. To reject someone, or to reject one's own life, on the strength of appearance alone is a grave and shallow mistake.

Second, what one is and does matters far more than how one looks. A rich inner life, a warm heart and a willingness to engage with the world make a person valuable, whatever the state of the body. Mr Lamb's whole teaching to Derry is a challenge to surface judgement: stop measuring yourself by your face, he urges, and value what you are inside.

Third, a positive, life-embracing attitude can transform a life. Mr Lamb, disabled and mocked, has chosen to live joyfully and openly, and by sharing that outlook he lifts Derry out of bitterness and despair into hope. Fear and self-pity, the play suggests, are far more disabling than any scar — "You can burn yourself away inside." …