The Solid Life of Sugar Water

'It had been a while. I was really nervous. I mean, it's not really like riding a bike. Sex. It's far more complicated.'

Phil and Alice are in love – familiar, flawed, ordinary love. They are on a journey, but this journey doesn't have an A to Z.

Jack Thorne's The Solid Life of Sugar Water is an intimate, tender play about loss, hurt and rediscovery. It previewed at The Drum, Theatre Royal Plymouth, and premiered at the 2015 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in a co-production between Graeae Theatre Company and Theatre Royal Plymouth.

'Forceful, thrilling, stunning… Thorne's script is fearless and finds shattering detail'— Telegraph

'Startlingly good... an adult play in the very best sense... gutsy, challenging, witty, deceptively delicate'— The Times

'Hits you squarely in the gut - it has a real sense of precision and meter, the tone sometimes funny, sometimes filthy, sometimes hopeful, sometimes utterly devastating... an intense, powerful, brilliantly written two-hander about sex, relationships and loss'— The Stage

'Heartbreaking'— Time Out

'Funny, poignant, arresting… a complex emotional watch, heartwarming and heartwrenching, sometimes simultaneously, but super smart too; great on gender gaps, better on life's unexpected turns and loaded up with minuscule wisdoms'— FestMag

'Inclusive and succinctly powerful... Writer Jack Thorne never ceases to stimulate and entertain... Disability isn't the core of the story, just another colour in the palette. The characters aren't measured against an ableist world but against each other... They are both complex, and not entirely likeable... The central event of the play is harrowing, but what I mostly remember is the snark and warmth of the characters and the tender last moments'— Evening Standard

'Hits you with such raw, uncomfortable truth that it stays with you... a deeply intimate play... extremely graphic, hyper-realistic and very funny... a piece of beautifully balanced writing... devastating... the explicit details of sex, bodies and birth, will be too much for some. However, there will be fewer plays this year that feel so intrinsically honest'— Broadway World

“'heartbreaking'”

'Forceful, thrilling, stunning… Thorne's script is fearless and finds shattering detail'

'Startlingly good... an adult play in the very best sense... gutsy, challenging, witty, deceptively delicate'

'Hits you squarely in the gut - it has a real sense of precision and meter, the tone sometimes funny, sometimes filthy, sometimes hopeful, sometimes utterly devastating... an intense, powerful, brilliantly written two-hander about sex, relationships and loss'

'Funny, poignant, arresting… a complex emotional watch, heartwarming and heartwrenching, sometimes simultaneously, but super smart too; great on gender gaps, better on life's unexpected turns and loaded up with minuscule wisdoms'

'Inclusive and succinctly powerful... Writer Jack Thorne never ceases to stimulate and entertain... Disability isn't the core of the story, just another colour in the palette. The characters aren't measured against an ableist world but against each other... They are both complex, and not entirely likeable... The central event of the play is harrowing, but what I mostly remember is the snark and warmth of the characters and the tender last moments'

'Hits you with such raw, uncomfortable truth that it stays with you... a deeply intimate play... extremely graphic, hyper-realistic and very funny... a piece of beautifully balanced writing... devastating... the explicit details of sex, bodies and birth, will be too much for some. However, there will be fewer plays this year that feel so intrinsically honest'

Jack Thorne is a playwright and BAFTA-winning screenwriter.His plays for the stage include: When Winston Went to War with the Wireless (Donmar Warehouse, 2023); The Motive and the Cue (National Theatre and West End, 2023; Evening Standard Award for Best Play; Critics' Circle Award for Best New Play); After Life, an adaptation of a film by Hirokazu Kore-eda (National Theatre, 2021); the end of history... (Royal Court, London, 2019); an adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (Old Vic, London, 2017); an adaptation of Büchner's Woyzeck (Old Vic, London, 2017); Junkyard (Headlong, Bristol Old Vic, Rose Theatre Kingston & Theatr Clwyd, 2017); Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre, London, 2016); The Solid Life of Sugar Water (Graeae and Theatre Royal Plymouth, 2015); Hope (Royal Court, London, 2015); adaptations of Let the Right One In (National Theatre of Scotland at Dundee Rep, the Royal Court and the Apollo Theatre, London, 2013/14) and Stuart: A Life Backwards (Underbelly, Edinburgh and tour, 2013); Mydidae (Soho, 2012; Trafalgar Studios, 2013); an adaptation of Friedrich Dürrenmatt's The Physicists (Donmar Warehouse, 2012); Bunny (Underbelly, Edinburgh, 2010; Soho, 2011); 2nd May 1997 (Bush, 2009); When You Cure Me (Bush, 2005; Radio 3's Drama on Three, 2006); Fanny and Faggot (Pleasance, Edinburgh, 2004 and 2007; Finborough, 2007; English Theatre of Bruges, 2007; Trafalgar Studios, 2007); and Stacy (Tron, 2006; Arcola, 2007; Trafalgar Studios, 2007).His television work includes His Dark Materials, Then Barbara Met Alan (with Genevieve Barr), The Eddy, Help, The Accident, Kiri, National Treasure and This is England '86/'88/'90.His films include The Swimmers (with Sally El Hosaini), Enola Holmes, Radioactive, The Aeronauts and Wonder.He was the recipient of the Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for Outstanding Contribution to Writing in 2022.

An intimate, tender play about loss, hurt and rediscovery. Phil and Alice are in love - familiar, flawed, ordinary love. Phil and Alice are on a journey, but this journey doesn't have an A to Z. The Solid Life of Sugar Water premiered at Theatre Royal, Plymouth, in June 2015, before a run at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2015.

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