The Sugar Syndrome
ORANGE TREE THEATRE
24 january - 22 february 2020
(runner up jmk award 2019)

DIRECTOR OSCAR TOEMAN
writer lucy prebble
designer rebecca brouwer
lighting designer elliot griggs
sound designer dan balfoUR

photos: the other richard

The level of control and tension in both Toeman’s direction and Chi-San Howard’s movement is never dropped, it never slips, violently swinging from static, half frozen conversations in children’s playgrounds to gleefully twirling in Tim’s living room, cake crumbs and discarded pizza crusts flying everywhere around them.
— Alice Flynn, A Younger Theatre
Poignantly, Bob Dylan sings Simple Twist of Fate while Dani and Tim dance together in a close embrace, both seeking personal validation, both anticipating rejection.
— Stephen Bates, The Reviews Hub
She captures a potent mix of teenage swagger and vulnerability, and her physical expressiveness dominates the stage.
— Nick Curtis, Evening Standard

REVIEWS

***** A YOUNGER THEATRE
**** THE SUNDAY TIMES
**** THE ARTS DESK
**** BROADWAY WORLD

cast

jessica rhodes
alexandra gilbraith
john hollingsworth
ali barouti

Everything that happens face to face takes place on the lower stage, and every online conversation happens circling it, raised above, like the characters become a heightened version of themselves when free of the constraints of place and time.
— Alice Flynn, A Younger Theatre
Jessica Rhodes (in her professional debut) ... is all nervy energy, constantly tugging at the long sleeves that hide her arms, folding herself into herself in disgust at her own shape, oblivious to her own cleverness and attraction.
— Sarah Crompton, WhatsOnStage
... however smart Dani might be, she doesn’t really understand the world, doesn’t feel comfortable in her own skin, wringing her hands nervily after she’s expertly delivered a zinger because her confidence is the thinnest of veneers.
— ANDRZEJ LUKOWSKI, Time Out