''The Sugar Syndrome'' is a 2003 play written by British writer

Lucy Prebble Lucy Prebble (born 1981) is a British playwright. She is the author of the plays '' The Sugar Syndrome'', ''The Effect'', ''ENRON'' and '' A Very Expensive Poison''. For television she adapted ''Secret Diary of a Call Girl'' and co-created ''I H ...

. It has won several awards and as of 2009 has been sold in seven languages.

Synopsis

The play has four main characters: Dani, Tim, Lewis and Jan. At the beginning, Dani (short for Danielle), a girl of seventeen, has just come home after spending some time in a clinic for eating disorders. Her mother, Jan, is trying to cope with the problems of looking after Dani after separating from her husband. Dani starts talking to people in an internet chat room and gets to know Tim, a man in his thirties. Dani pretends to be an eleven-year-old boy, which Tim believes. Tim is a man in his thirties who has a taste for young boys and has spent some time in prison. He and Dani agree to meet in a park and subsequently become friends. Dani also meets a lonely young man called Lewis in the chat room. Lewis eventually becomes jealous of the friendship between Dani and Tim and threatens to expose Tim as a pedophile. Tim, anticipating a visit from the police, lends his laptop to Dani for safekeeping. Dani then finds a video on the laptop which appears to depict the rape of a young boy. The play climactically ends with the harrowing sound of the boy being raped...Loveridge, Lizzie
"A CurtainUp London Review. 'The Sugar Syndrome' "
''CurtainUp'', 10 October 2003. Retrieved 5 January 2009

Productions

The play premiered at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, Englan ...

Upstairs, London, from 16 October to 15 November 2003. Directed by

Marianne Elliott Marianne Phoebe Elliott (born 27 December 1966) is a British theatre director and producer who works on the West End and Broadway. She has received numerous accolades including three Laurence Olivier Awards and four Tony Awards. Initially ...

, (associate director at the

), the cast featured Will Ash (Lewis), Kate Duchene (Jan), Stephanie Leonidas (Dani) and Andrew Woodall (Tim). The play ran in the US at the

Williamstown Theatre Festival The Williamstown Theatre Festival is a resident summer theater on the campus of Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1954 by Williams College news director Ralph Renzi and drama program chairman David C. Bryant. I ...

(Williamstown, Massachusetts) from 27 July 2005 to 7 August. Directed by Maria Mileaf, the cast featured Gaby Hoffmann as Dani. The play was also staged in St. Louis, MO by Echo Theatre Company in 2006. In 2020 a new production was staged at the

Orange Tree Theatre The Orange Tree Theatre is a 180-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south-west London, which was built specifically as a theatre in the round. It is housed within a disused 1867 primary school, built in Victorian Gothic style. T ...

in Richmond upon Thames in the UK, directed by Oscar Toeman, with John Hollingsworth as Tim, Jessica Rhodes as Dani, Ali Barouti as Lewis and Alexandra Gilbreath as Jan. Peter Mason, reviewing the production in the ''Morning Star'' newspaper, said: "While the play itself is electrifying, the acting from the outstanding cast of four generates its own static charge, creating an atmosphere that occasionally makes the hair stand on end."Peter Mason
Review of ''The Sugar Syndrome''
'' Morning Star'', 2020. Web. Retrieved on 20 January 2019.

Critical response

Awards

The Critics' Circle The Critics' Circle is the national Professional association, professional body of United Kingdom, British critics for dance, drama, film, music, books and visual arts. It was established in 1913 as a successor to the Society of Dramatic Critics ...

Award, 2004 *

George Devine George Alexander Cassady Devine (20 November 1910 – 20 January 1966) was an English theatrical manager, director, teacher, and actor based in London from the early 1930s until his death. He also worked in TV and film. Early life and education ...

Award for Most Promising Playwright, 2004 *

TMA Award The UK Theatre Awards, established in 1991 and known before 2011 as the TMA Awards, are presented annually by UK Theatre (formerly the Theatrical Management Association) in recognition of creative excellence and outstanding work in regional thea ...

for Best New Play, 2004"Previous Awards. Best New Play"
uktheatre.org, retrieved 29 January 2016

Notes

External links

at ''Doollee.com'' Playwrights Database (includes "Synopsis" of ''The Sugar Syndrome''). {{DEFAULTSORT:Sugar Syndrome 2000s debut plays 2003 plays Rape in fiction Plays by Lucy Prebble