Theatre review: The Sugar Syndrome

How do you evoke nostalgia for the fairly recent past? At the moment the sound of a dial-up modem does the trick very effectively, which is handy when the play is a revival of Lucy Prebble's first-produced play The Sugar Syndrome. That sound opening the show clues us in not just to its 2003 setting, but also to what must have been one of the first major plays to look at relationships formed online and, to start with at least, how you might not be getting quite what you were expecting. 17-year-old Dani (Jessica Rhodes) has been using chatrooms to meet people in real life, but some awkward fumbling (how does the props person make stage-jizz anyway, and how do they credit it on their CV?) with the smitten, awkward Lewis (Ali Barouti) turns out not to be exciting enough for her, and her next meeting is more unconventional and potentially dangerous: Pretending to be an 11-year-old boy, she befriends convicted paedophile Tim (John Hollingworth) and arranges to meet him IRL.

Her plan isn't to entrap him though; she's recovering from an eating disorder, and has spotted what she thinks could be points of similarity between them. In essence, she wants them to act as AA sponsors for each other when they're tempted to do something they've sworn off.

Dani's unseen father is the editor of a tabloid that ran a high-profile anti-paedophile campaign (that had a direct impact on Tim when it caused the closure of his treatment centre,) so it's likely her choice of new friend is part-rebellion against the man who's all but abandoned her and her mother. The Sugar Syndrome does feel like a debut play in the way it courts controversy by shining a less-judgmental light on what was a popular bogeyman even back when the word Yewtree referred to a yew tree; but the measured tone and thoughtful points of view mark it out as the work of someone who's gone on to create some major work since.

There's a fascinating premise in here about how the two find common ground in having urges they know are wrong and society condemns, while throwing temptation in their way, whether it's the sexualisation of the young or the pressure to be thin: It's a telling scene when Dani hides a bag full of fashion magazines she's bought herself as they're clearly contraband. In her professional debut Rhodes brings a subtlety to Dani that helps sell the controversial central friendship. The strong cast is rounded out by Alexandra Gilbreath as Dani's mother Jan, failing to help her daughter much as recent events have forced her to confront all the issues she's been burying about her marriage, and she's not coping with having to accept them.

Oscar Toeman's production brings out the way Prebble presents her story without any unnecessary sensationalism: There's no judgment of the characters, but there's also no pretence that their likeable exteriors don't cover a lot of real darkness (and not just in the obvious example, but also how Dani's reckless behaviour, Jan's avoidance issues and Lewis' red-flag self-narrative about being one of the good guys all draw others into their problems.) Daniel Balfour's very gentle, creepy ambient sound cues contribute a lot to the vague sense of disquiet that helps give the show the ambiguity and ability to see from unexpected perspectives that's been a strength of Prebble's writing ever since.

The Sugar Syndrome by Lucy Prebble is booking until the 22nd of February at the Orange Tree Theatre.

Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes including interval.

Photo credit: The Other Richard.