The Sugar Syndrome by Lucy Prebble

Lucy Prebble is most recently known for her hugely successful plays Enron and 2019's A very expensive poison, but her professional career started in 2002 with her play The Sugar Syndrome, which was produced the following year, winning her several awards.

In a sentence, the play is about the struggle to connect in real life. The central character is Dani, who likes to go into chatrooms, essentially looking for people as damaged as she is.

Dani is a ‘recovered/recovering’ bulimic, who in one of her chatrooms has been mistaken for a boy by Tim, who is in his 30's and has a criminal record for paedophilia. They arrange to meet, and when they do so, while initially disappointed to realise Dani is not a Danny, Tim builds a friendship with her. Hereafter the central story does not take the perhaps expected turn. Instead it is Dani who pushes the boundaries with Tim, flirting and making jokes about his desires for children.