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Past Reviews Regional Reviews: Seattle Sugar Daddies Also see David's reviews of Anything Goes and Carrie
When we meet our protagonist Sasha she is a somewhat dowdy, gullible, but utterly upbeat and winning working girl who befriends an apparently benevolent older gent, garbed as Santa for a volunteer hospital gig, after he is nearly a victim of a hit and run incident with a reckless driver. Santa's name is Val, and he quickly becomes "Uncle Val" to Sasha, who is rewarded for her kindness by the gent's devotion, not to mention dinners out and increasingly lavish gifts. Uncle Val doesn't seem to want anything more than platonic friendship with the ebullient lass but her sassy sister Chloe and retired lawman Ashley, a neighbor who apparently knew Val in his younger, wilder days, suspect otherwise. Chloe and her worthless on and off (and unseen) boyfriend both have suspicious "accidents" that Val, at least in Sasha's mind, has no connection to. Before long, Sasha is settling into being redone as a glamour girl, with Val furnishing her once modest apartment with garish if pricy new pieces (her sister rails at the fur-lined walls of her bedroom) picked out by Charmaine, an old acquaintance who was another kind of working girl and also a beneficiary of Val's "generosity". The piece climaxes at a dinner party from hell, after which Sasha is faced with some tough choices and realities. Sugar Daddies is not a laugh out loud comedy. Its dark humors and acerbic tone and mostly unlikable characters do not make it fun for everyone, and it is about a half hour too long textually, though directorially Ayckbourn and his cast keep it moving. In the pivotal role of Sasha, Emily Chisholm is reason enough to disregard the script's weaknesses, making Sasha's transformation from waif to grown-up utterly natural and believable. Seán G. Griffin as the bad Santa known as Uncle Val segues from cuddly to creepy and back again with ease, like the virtuoso character actor he is. John Patrick Lowrie as Val's old adversary Ashley is a charming curmudgeon of a would be protector to Sasha. Elinor Gunn is rather at sea in the weakly drawn role of critical and caustic sister Chloe, while Anne Allgood nearly steals the show as the flamboyant though ultimately pitiable Charmaine. Technical credits are tops. Matthew Smucker's chameleonic scenic design is a wonder, featuring some of the most deliciously tasteless furnishings ever seen on a stage, and Deb Trout's costumes are ideal. A shout out too to dialect coach Gin Hammond, particularly her work with Chisholm who has mastered her character's accent with uncanny skill. Sugar Daddies is a hard show to love, but Ayckbourn's writing of and Chisholm's performance in the role of Sasha make it worth a look-see. Sugar Daddies runs through November 3, 2013, at ACT Theatre, 700 Union St. For tickets or information contact the ACT box office at 206-292-7676 or visit them online at www.acttheatre.org.
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