On the Rocks Interview: The Sugar Syndrome

Have you ever seen a production of The Sugar Syndrome? What stuck out about this particular piece of new writing that made you want to put it on?

TASMIN: When I was looking at different scripts, I just kept coming back to The Sugar Syndrome. It’s uncomfortable at times, but once you get past the shock, it’s really relatable. I haven’t had the chance to see it, but I have seen some of Lucy Prebble’s screenwriting work and really enjoyed it (Secret Diary of a Call Girl is one of my guilty pleasure TV shows). She’s not afraid to tackle really uncomfortable situations and characters and I admire her work greatly.

PETER: I haven’t, but I have seen Prebble’s Secret Diary of a Call Girl. And yes, it’s just as graphic, if not more so!

The Sugar Syndrome seems to feature troubling and taboo subject matter, (for example eating disorders and strangers on internet chat rooms). Does it handle this darkness well, whilst also maintaining a sense of humour?

TASMIN: I certainly think so. The play is more about the fall-out and recovery from sticky situations. The script balances the many different situations remarkably well, and as an audience member, you can really start to understand the characters, despite initially being put off by their obvious flaws.

COCO: Although The Sugar Syndrome does indeed touch on deeply personal and often disturbing secrets, Lucy Prebble manages to bring light and shade to this multi-layered play. When I read the synopsis of the play I did not imagine humour would feature to any large extent but I have been surprised by how successfully Prebble manages to introduce comedy to what can be perceived as a very disquieting plotline.

PETER: It handles the darkness without prejudice, which I think is really important. One could write a play condemning bulimia as a needless disease for silly girls, condemning paedophilia as an outright evil. But I think it’s a lot more interesting to look at these problems without judgement from the perspective of the ones suffering from them, which is what The Sugar Syndrome does. The point of the play is that everyone has darkness inside of them. OK, so maybe we don’t all fancy kids or binge eat, but there’s something weak and vulnerable and hateful about each of us. It’s an important message, and one the play delivers brilliantly.

SANDRA: I think what makesThe Sugar Syndrome a good piece of writing is that it gives a very credible, even authentic, account of all these problems. It makes you think about them but it doesn’t attempt to give a simplified answer to them. Or any answer, as a matter of fact. It paints a picture, gives an impression, and that is all it wants to do – to give you a sense of this darkness, and it does so very well. But yes, it most certainly also has a good sense of humour. One of the major sources of that is my character, Jan, the mother. She is a middle-aged woman struggling to keep her marriage afloat and to parent her problematic 17-year-old. Despite her crumbling life she remains an easy-going, charming character with an entertaining clumsiness when it comes to handling relationships. Her portrait is an amusing yet at the same time saddening example of how we might fail in spite of our best intentions. Prebble jokes, but makes us have an uncomfortable uneasiness as we laugh.

Lucy Prebble herself was only twenty-two when she wrote The Sugar Syndrome, her first play. Does it show at all?

TASMIN: Overall, no. The play is a mature piece of writing that balances eating disorders, paedophilia and empty nest syndrome, but which is remarkable considering how different each of those situations are from one another. There are a few clichéd lines, and there’s a lot going on, which I think a more experienced writer probably would have edited out, but then we wouldn’t have the same play to work with.

COCO: Considering how young Prebble was I think The Sugar Syndrome was a great success on her part. The characters are very well developed and rather than giving everything away at once the audience is left guessing as to the underlying nature of the complicated characters she constructs.

The age of the cast ranges from the teens to the early forties, has this made it interesting to stage with student actors?

TASMIN: I think my cast is just remarkable. As soon as they got hold of the scripts each one of them started to work on their characters. The age range of the characters never posed much of a problem. The more interesting part was coming to terms with relationships between the characters. 

COCO: It’s been easier for me to embody the character of 17 year old Dani than with some of the older characters such as Jan and Tim. However the characters’ age can be deceptive, Dani for one is far older than her years in many respects, until following a series of traumatic revelations, she is shocked back into childish horror at the darker truths revealed towards the end of the play. I think having characters who are vastly different in experience and maturity brings depth and contrast to the play and enables the audience to see that growing up often involves a painful loss of innocence.

PETER: I’m lucky, I play a 22-year-old which isn’t too much of a stretch, but for the others… Well, let’s just say that they’re such good actors you’ll be easily deceived!

SANDRA: I didn’t even notice such a vast age difference to be honest! The Sugar Syndrome can be challenging to act out at times and so we needed to just have a laugh and take it easy to make things work sometimes. I enjoyed working on this play together; it’s been a very valuable experience.

The Sugar Syndrome goes up Sunday, 7^th April at the Barron Theatre at 2:30PM & 7:30PM for £3.