Andy Sandberg’s drama is a think piece, directed by the author himself and well-acted. Covering plenty of topical concerns, it follows Dillon, a privileged teenager who causes an awful accident while driving drunk. There’s a lot to discuss but, ultimately, the piece says very little.
Sandberg is good at starting a debate, providing numerous perspectives that lead to fine performances. Affluenza is enjoyable enough. Dillon’s awful parents, the mother of one victim, and the father of another, are all worth watching. And there’s the lawyer, played by a convincing Rupert Young, who comes up with the defence that gives the play its title: Dillon is so privileged, his moral compass so warped, that he cannot be held responsible for his actions.
If the legal case – or the psychology behind the titular condition – doesn’t convince, you’re allowed to be sceptical. We can all join the outrage and scoff. The problem is that not much is done with the idea dramatically. Too many of the characters are flat, present just to put a point of view forward. Dillon, played by Stranger Things star Noah Schnapp, isn’t given much to work with. Donald Sage Mackay has a strong scene at a press conference, where we hear what he is thinking alongside what he says. But it is only Juliet Cowan who manages to eke out both satire and emotion, taking on two roles with the greatest skill.
After the interval, the play improves. The action is, surely, deliberately disorientating, so a plot spoiler seems unfair: let’s just say we fast-forward to see Dillon possess a new kind of privilege with a new set of problems. Young and Wallis Currie-Wood have more to do here and take on the task valiantly. Cowan is great again. But how the situations connect isn’t clear. Is Dillon’s later life supposed to be a punishment? The fate of Dillon’s son, while providing another character for Schnapp to explore, is again underdeveloped.
Showing that money can influence justice isn’t much of an exposé. While the predictable outcome of the trial could easily be the point, it isn’t a great surprise. By making both the accident and what happens to Dillon when he grows up so extreme, Sandberg distances us from the events as well as characters. It becomes too easy to dismiss what is happening rather than engage with it.
Until 21 November 2026
Photo by Danny Kaan