Candy – White Bear Theatre, Kennington

Writer: Luke Davies
Director: Kate Elliot

Reviewer: Christine Stanton

“Bleakly Believable“

3.5 / 5

Candy and Dan are head over heels in love, immediately intoxicated by each other and desperate to spend every waking moment together. But there’s a third love threatening to derail their relationship – the heroin addiction they share.

When they first start using together, it’s only small amounts on sporadic occasions – both determined they have it under control and won’t let it affect them longer-term. They give it up completely a few times as well, successfully going cold turkey in an attempt to put their lives back on track and leave the using behind. But, they can never seem to stay away for long. Their usage gets more frequent, their tolerance higher and their determination to stop completely disappearing. Soon, Candy (Freya James) is having to sell her body to get money to pay for their addiction, Dan (Ed McVey) is out of work and reliant on Candy’s income – no matter how strong their love is, their addiction is even stronger.

Luke Davies’s script is gritty and bleak – but sadly, a realistic portrayal of addiction and the impact it has on both the addicts, and the people around them. James and McVey are a fantastic pair to portray the fast deterioration of the two characters and their lives. McVey’s Dan is surprisingly charismatic and likeable – in the wrong hands, his character could be cold and unforgiving, but his troubled regret makes it hard not to root for him to get better. James is equally endearing, the audience completely sympathise with her struggles, the heart-wrenching impact that heroin has on her is shown with impressive emotion and depth.

Much of Kate Elliot’s direction is shown with brilliantly mesmerising mime to depict various sexual acts and drug intake. Co-movement directors Laure Bachelot and Alexandria McCauley ensure that these fluid, dance-like interactions add an almost ethereal element to the production. The verbal descriptions of the acts and their impact is hard-hitting and sometimes tough to hear, the visuals themselves are soft and gentle – depicting the ‘other worldly’ aspects of the intoxication the characters are hypnotised by. The use of narration and breaks of the forth wall are often quite abrupt, and don’t always feel needed – the chemistry between the characters is strong enough to convey the narrative itself, and the narration occasionally breaks the tension and it’s effect too suddenly. The scene changes can also be equally abrupt, losing momentum and sometimes feeling slightly rushed to move onto the next event – the most engaging moments in this production are where the detail is better unraveled.

Two fantastic performances ensure that the intensity of the storyline is conveyed strongly throughout the 75 minute runtime in this emotional, enjoyable production.

Runs until 14 June 2025