Playwright Richard Harris has written some of the most performed plays in the UK – Stepping Out and Outside Edge to name the best known - and, as with many comedies, most of the characters are sad people in one way or another.
In Party Piece, a fancy-dress housewarming party hits more than a few problems as neighbours, friends, frozen food and alcohol all play their part in causing utter chaos. It's played out in adjacent gardens which are wonderfully designed by Andrew Beckett complete with two garden sheds, multiple doors and a huge number of appropriate props – this being 1992, once again the attention to detail of propmaster, James Prendergast, is laudable.
(Image: Jason Marc-Williams)
In a performance which, at time, echoes the great John Cleese, Owen Landon, as host Michael, is right on the money; his attire in Act Two is glorious and his meltdown is comedy gold. As his long-suffering wife, Roma, Bridget Lambert is the main tragic victim of the whole farrago, she spirals downhill from the start; it is utterly effective and sadly funny. Their elderly neighbour, Mrs Hinson, is brought to life with lip-licking relish by Hilary Harwood who dotes on her son and despises his new wife with side swipes left and right; Brendan Matthew, as David, captures the ‘barrow boy’, cheeky chappie perfectly, with a great line in ridiculous theories and stories, his comic timing is spot on; as with Roma, Jennifer, David’s wife, suffers at the hands of all and sundry and she too descends into hysteria – Stephanie Lodge aims her retorts to her mother-in-law with the sharpest of tongues in an exquisitely judged performance.
(Image: Jason Marc-Williams)
As the party starts in Act Two, only two guests actually arrive at the party. Toby, white-suited and be-fezzed – an oddball character in many respects; Mark Laverty is so skilled at physical comedy that he creates laughs where they are far from obvious. The play is almost stolen by a comic masterclass from Julia Main as the vampish man-eater, Sandy – with some of the best lines in the play and a chance to squeeze every ounce of physical and verbal comedy from the character, she leaves the audience in hysterics.
Jason Marc-Williams, his cast and crew, have achieved a near impossible feat here in just five days, with this far from straightforward comedy – it will bed down quickly and the laughs will continue to come thick and fast. This is hugely good fun a bucketful of laughs (some slightly inadvertent on opening night!)and played to the hilt by a talented and comically gifted cast. A complete joy.
Party Piece runs until Saturday, July 27. Next week's production is God of Carnage, a dramatic comedy by Yasmina Reza. Tickets available from www.manorpavilion.com
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