''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 London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

on 28 May 1958. The play was directed by

Charles Laughton Charles Laughton (1 July 1899 – 15 December 1962) was a British actor. He was trained in London at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and first appeared professionally on the stage in 1926. In 1927, he was cast in a play with his future w ...

and starred, in addition to Laughton himself,

Albert Finney Albert Finney (9 May 1936 – 7 February 2019) was an English actor. 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) ...

, Laughton's wife

Elsa Lanchester Elsa Sullivan Lanchester (28 October 1902 – 26 December 1986) was a British-American actress with a long career in theatre, film and television.Obituary ''Variety'', 31 December 1986. Lanchester studied dance as a child and after the Fir ...

Ann Lynn Elizabeth Ann Lynn (7 November 1933 – 30 August 2020) was a British actress, especially prominent during the British New Wave of the 1960s, appearing in many films that represented what is known as kitchen sink realism. Lynn's career spanne ...

Joyce Redman Joyce Olivia Redman (7 December 1915Jonathan Croall, "Redman, Joyce Olivia (1915–2012)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, Jan 201available online Retrieved 1 April 2020. – 9 May 2012) was an Anglo-Irish a ...

, 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.

Significance

''The Party'', which is set in Kilburn, is significant for a number of reasons. It was Laughton's final appearance on the

stage, despite being the first time he had acted in England since 1951. It was also the first appearance on the London stage by

who Laughton had seen playing ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of 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 w ...

'' in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

. 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 Simon Phillip Hugh Callow (born 15 June 1949) is an English film, television and voice actor, director, narrator and writer. He was twice nominated for BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his roles in ''A Room with a View (1985 ...

, 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.

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 ''Look Back in Anger'' (1956) is a realist play written by John Osborne. It focuses on the life and marital struggles of an intelligent and educated but disaffected young man of working-class origin, Jimmy Porter, and his equally competent yet i ...

'' and ''

A Taste of Honey ''A Taste of Honey'' is the first play by the British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, written when she was 19. It was intended as a novel, but she turned it into a play because she hoped to revitalise British theatre and address social issues that ...

''.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Party 1958 plays