By Dawn M. Sanders
24 March 2015
Sheffield’s Library Theatre hosts New Venture Players theatre group, bringing to life Alan Ayckbourn’s ‘Sugar Daddies’ in a gripping, gritty yet hilarious dark comedy.
On opening night, the scene is a sparsely furnished student-esque flat in London, shared by two sisters.
Chloe is streetwise and jaded, while her sister Sasha, a naïve northern girl, has recently moved to London.
When Sasha lets a jolly jubbly man dressed as Father Christmas into the flat, she can’t be kind enough to this ‘gentleman’, but is Uncle Val really a gentleman?
Taken in by his rough and ready, yet charming veneer, Sasha is the perfect pupil for Uncle Val’s intentions.
As the plot thickens and Uncle Val lavishes Sasha with charm and generosity, warnings from the old ex-policemen downstairs and Sasha’s wary sister, fall on deaf ears.
While Uncle Val progresses in manoeuvring and making Sasha, he drives a wedge between the two sisters, which erupts in a classic catfight, rendering the audience to applause.
Michael Bullock skilfully directs the production and plays out his role of dodgy daddy, Katie Watson assumes her role as Sasha with ease and Jo Hadjioannou eventually settles into her role as Chloe; as the entire cast carry out a cracking performance!
The story goes full circle as Sasha finally wakes up to uncle Val’s dingy past as she says: “Last night I saw a side of you I never want to see again…” as the naïve nice girl is that little less innocent and just a bit more knowing.
It is definitely worth catching this before the finish!