Sugar Baby continues until 8th October at Alphabetti Theatre. Sugar Baby finishes this week and it’s work catching if you can. It’s a fun play more than anything challenging, but it’s is a very enjoyable read. As anyone used to a thrust stage knows, corners with aisles for seating are a good spot to face inwards to the stage, so that you completely have you back to no-one – but unfortunately I was sitting in that corner and spent a lot of time looking at Ben Gettin’s back. I can’t remember to Alphabetti has reconfigured its seating, but there is a corner with filled in seating. I don’t know how much of this was the idea of the production and how much was stated in the script, but this is one of the times where simplicity works so well. It wasn’t just the technical skill for doing this, but also the styling way it was done. I don’t think there was a weak link anywhere amongst the team, but I was particularly impressed with Matt Jamie’s projections on the walls. Natasha Haws does a fine job of directing this, and Ben Gettins nails the part of Marc perfectly. As well as straddling genres so well, Alan Harris’s writing is sharp and witty, always keeping up the pace, occasionally introducing moments of surrealism, but never one forcing characters to do implausible things for the sake of either plot or jokes. When circumstance forces him to come to her for help, there are touching moments in an otherwise madcap about reconnecting with someone you cut out of your life. Marc is trying to pay off his dad’s debts, but it barely registers at the beginning of the play that he has no contact with his estranged mother. The third part to to story, however, is an unexpected poignancy. This balances up the thriller with comedy.
However, the twist to all of this is that 1) it all takes place in the same suburb of Cardiff and 2) everybody in this story seems to have gone to the same school, which just makes it all the more awkward. That in itself could make a decent thriller. Unknown to Oggy, however, Lisa has always has the hots for Marc. Lisa also owes Marc money, and is paying her debts by being his sugar baby. Marc is trying to clear some debts with loan shark Oggy. On the face of it, Sugar Baby could be a thriller. Having been encouraged to check out what they do in Edinburgh, this was a good opportunity for a catch up. It was also premiered at Paines Plough’s Roundabout at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017. Some are new plays by local artists, but this one is a revival of a play by Welsh playwright Alan Harris. Although Alphabetti theatre has made the three-week run the norm, it varies where the plays come from. The result vary, so let’s see how they do. I saw three play in September, all bringing stories from outside the area into the north east in different ways: a straight revival, an ambitious update, and a challenging adaptation. So fringe season is over and it’s back to local plays. Skip to: Sugar Baby, Shakers, Brassed Off
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