The Party (play)

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The Party
Written by Jane Arden
Date premiered 28 May 1958
Place premiered Noël Coward Theatre, London
Original language English

The Party is a play by the British dramatist, actor and director Jane Arden (1927–82) which was first staged at the New Theatre, London on 28 May 1958. The play was directed by Charles Laughton and starred, in addition to Laughton himself, Albert Finney, Laughton's wife Elsa Lanchester, Ann Lynn, Joyce Redman, and John Welch. Following generally enthusiastic reviews The Party ran for six months at the New Theatre and has occasionally been performed in repertory since. The play was published by Samuel French Limited.

Jane Arden (director) British film director, actress, screenwriter, playwright, active from the 1940s to the 1970s

Jane Arden was a Welsh film director, actress, screenwriter, playwright, songwriter, and poet.

Noël Coward Theatre theatre in London

The Noël Coward Theatre, formerly known as the Albery Theatre, is a West End theatre on St. Martin's Lane in the City of Westminster, London. It opened on 12 March 1903 as the New Theatre and was built by Sir Charles Wyndham behind Wyndham's Theatre which was completed in 1899. The building was designed by architect W. G. R. Sprague with an exterior in the classical style and an interior in the Rococo style.

London Capital of the United Kingdom

London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow closely its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is also an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.

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Significance

The Party, which is set in Kilburn, is significant for a number of reasons. It was Laughton's final appearance on the London stage, despite being the first time he had acted in England since 1951. It was also the first appearance on the London stage by Albert Finney who Laughton had seen playing Macbeth in Birmingham.

Kilburn, London area of London

Kilburn is an area of north-west London, England, situated 3.75 miles (6.0 km) north-west of Charing Cross. The main thoroughfare running northwest-southeast is Kilburn High Road, part of the modern A5 road, which forms the boundary between the boroughs of Brent and Camden and is in postcode NW6. On some definitions a small section is in the City of Westminster, with postcode W9. The road dates back to pre-Roman times and is part of the Roman road known as Watling Street. The town of Kilburn has its origins in a 12th-century priory on the banks of the Kilburn Brook. Kilburn today is a busy and multicultural London district. It has one of the capital's highest Irish populations, as well as a sizable Afro-Caribbean population. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.

Albert Finney British actor

Albert Finney was an English actor who worked in film, television and theatre. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and worked in the theatre before attaining prominence on screen in the early 1960s, debuting with The Entertainer (1960), directed by Tony Richardson, who had previously directed him in the theatre. He maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television.

<i>Macbeth</i> play by William Shakespeare

Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare; it is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake. Of all the plays that Shakespeare wrote during the reign of James I, who was patron of Shakespeare's acting company, Macbeth most clearly reflects the playwright's relationship with his sovereign. It was first published in the Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book, and is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy.

The play is also a significant early work by Arden, who by that time had already written for television and the theatre. The Party is, like much of Arden's other work for theatre, cinema and television, ground-breaking and innovative, in this case mainly for its daring exploration of mental illness and its effects on family dynamics. As Simon Callow, in his book Charles Laughton: A Difficult Actor (Methuen, 1987) says, 'The play actually anticipates a great deal of mid-sixties drama on the subject of society's imposition of conformity.' There are also disturbing intimations of an incestuous relationship between the central character Ettie and her father Richard but, due to the moral climate and censorship restrictions of the 1950s, Arden could not explore this theme openly.

Simon Callow English actor

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Reception

Despite its comparative success there are some commentators who think that Laughton largely misjudged the play in both his staging and casting. Curiously, no television or film version of The Party has ever been planned and this perhaps accounts partly for the play's relative obscurity in comparison with other contemporary works such as Look Back In Anger and A Taste of Honey .

<i>A Taste of Honey</i> 1958 play written by Shelagh Delaney

A Taste of Honey is the first play by the British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, written when she was 19. It was initially intended as a novel, but she turned it into a play because she hoped to revitalise British theatre and to address social issues that she felt were not being presented. The play was first produced by Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop and was premiered at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, a small fringe theatre in London, on 27 May 1958. The production then transferred to the larger Wyndham's Theatre in the West End on 10 February 1959. The play was adapted into a film of the same title in 1961.

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References

    Kenneth Tynan English theatre critic and writer

    Kenneth Peacock Tynan was an English theatre critic and writer. Making his initial impact as a critic at The Observer, he praised Osborne's Look Back in Anger (1956), and encouraged the emerging wave of British theatrical talent. In 1963, Tynan was appointed as the new National Theatre Company's literary manager.

    <i>The Guardian</i> British national daily newspaper

    The Guardian is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as The Manchester Guardian, and took its current name in 1959. Along with its sister papers The Observer and The Guardian Weekly, the Guardian is part of the Guardian Media Group, owned by the Scott Trust. The Scott Trust was created in 1936 "to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity and to safeguard the journalistic freedom and liberal values of the Guardian free from commercial or political interference". The Scott Trust was converted into a limited company in 2008, with a constitution written so as to project the same protections for The Guardian as were originally built into the very structure of the Scott Trust by its creators. Profits are reinvested in journalism rather than to benefit an owner or shareholders.

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