Anna Burnside reviews 'a timely bit of fun' that offers a comedic alternative to the current political landscape.
Edmund is in the kitchen the night before the election. Surrounded by party manifestos, he’s trying to decide who to vote for.
His sensible wife and Green-voting gay son are no balm for this old cop, whose heart is in the Churchill-Thatcher Tory party but who can’t quite get the hang of the Johnson/Truss/Sunak version of the Conservatives.
So far, so knockabout political drama.
Then Edmund finds Jacob Rees-Mogg in his fridge. With this handbrake turn, the show becomes an escalating Christmas Carolish carry on, with a series of ghosts appearing to help Edmund make up his mind. Churchill pitches up and finishes his wine. Not one but two Mrs Thatchers do their best, followed by the Grim Reaper himself.
It’s a smart idea, allowing for extensive speechifying and rehearsal of different positions without feeling preachy or finger pointy and includes a panto-level gag count, meaning that it never becomes worthy or dry.
The humour goes well beyond lowball anti-Tory jabs. Ghosts appearing out of kitchen appliances might not be a new theatrical device but it’s well used here, with the audience glancing anxiously at the microwave in case Michael Gove is in there, defrosting.
There are strong visual jokes too. Tyler Collins, who plays Edmund’s son Steffan, Rees Mogg, one of the Maggies and the reaper, is exceptionally tall. Paul McCole and Helen McAlpine, playing his wife, Churchill and one of the Maggies, are both in the low five feet. Together they are physically funny before you add wigs and handbags. PPP’s audience of a certain age all got it when Collins’s Maggie discretely pinched a pint of milk. Words not required.
Party of the Century is a timely bit of fun and a delightful antidote to opinion polls and the prospect of people voting for Nigel Farage. If only other Tories were as open to ghostly intervention as Edmund.
Party of the Century performs at Oran Mor’s A Play, A Pie and A Pint until June 22, 2024.
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