Ugly Lies The Bone is the story of Jess (Kate Fleetwood) an Afghan war veteran who returns home to Florida after suffering severe burns on her last tour. She is undertaking virtual reality therapy to cope with the pain and as part of the therapy has to create a fantasy world that she can retreat to. It is supposed to distract her from her debilitating injuries and pain but what she really wants is to recreate her old life.

Everything has changed since her last tour including her family and friends and she must find a way of forging new relationships. Jess's sister (Olivia Darnley) wants to her in cotton wool and for her to get on with her new idiot boyfriend (Kris Marshall). And Jess's ex (Ralf Little) has married. She wants to go back to teaching but people want to put her in a back room where no one can see her scarred face.

The staging is pretty spectacular. The sides and back of the stage curve upwards as if you are looking at everything through VR glasses. Images are projected onto this all encompassing backdrop - the VR landscape Jess creates, the streetscape of her Florida home town complete with traffic moving on the roads or the night sky. Visually it is really impressive.

You can sense a 'but' coming can't you? And there is one. Despite the performances the play feels neither as funny as it wants to be nor as hard hitting given the subject matter. I think the problem is that it is a little play that would suit a smaller stage in a more intimate theatre not the vast Lyttleton. The visual feast we are presented with over powers, even distracts from the play making it difficult to get emotional purchase.

Yes there are a few laugh out loud moments and the odd line that makes you gasp but in the end the staging is like the cotton wool that Jess's sister wants to wrap her up in which is a real shame. I give it three stars.

It is one hour and 35 minutes without an interval and is at the National Theatre until June 6.