''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 List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

on 28 May 1958. The play was directed by Charles Laughton and starred, in addition to Laughton himself, Albert Finney, Laughton's wife

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, 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 Albert Finney who Laughton had seen playing '' Macbeth'' in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

. 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'' (19 ...

, 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 ''

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'' and '' A Taste of Honey''.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Party 1958 plays