Review: The Party Girls (Oxford Playhouse)

The Party Girls – written by Amy Rosenthal - is a Marlowe Theatre Production, directed by Richard Beecham, and I was delighted to be invited to review their first touring show when it arrived at Oxford Playhouse.

Writer Amy Rosenthal has included Nancy, Diana, Jessica, Unity and Debo Mitford in this narrative, with the focus being on Jessica. I personally feel this was a wise choice, as she has more redeeming personality traits than some of her sisters for an audience to have empathy with. Also, from what I have read and heard, this was an unusual situation for her to be brought into the spotlight, as previously the focus has been on others in the family, so instantly intriguing.

I can’t claim to have had much prior knowledge of the Mitford Sisters before seeing the show, but I actually enjoyed coming into this blind.  My theatre buddy for the night however knew their history in great detail so we had some interesting discussions in the interval and after the show.   What I will say is, this play is one for those with prior knowledge or none… my only slight drawback was getting my head around the familial nicknames the sisters had for each other. This did not detract from the enjoyment of the show at all.

When the play started the cinematic scene setting was dramatic and engaging, and I was delighted to see this formula being used for every scene change.  The lighting (Aideen Malone) would fade, the set (Simon Kenny) would move the previous cast members out of the picture (yet continuing to perform, almost as if they faded to memory) as the next slotted into place, music (Adrienne Quartly) would be playing and a location and date was projected so we knew where and when we were heading next. There was quite a lot of jumping around in time but it was interesting as various situations in the characters' lives were gradually revealed in the right order for the play, even if it wasn’t the correct timeline chronologically. This may be a rather strange thing to say but the transitions were one of my favourite things about this production.

A small group of six performers were cast perfectly for their roles. It felt like we had insight into many more lives as other people were discussed in detail, and not only that but the transformations that took place as the sisters aged meant that it was hard to believe such a small cast had played every role at every age.

The set, costume and wig, hair and makeup (WHAM) changes throughout the show, and the performances by the actors as their characters aged were skillful.  The vocal and particularly movement differences through the changing years were strikingly noticeable, as the sisters’ ages changed with the timeline. Flora Spencer-Longhurst portrayed Debo, the youngest sibling, charmingly in her younger years, and then in some scenes all of the sisters were showing the years had passed and their life and health situations had changed. Unity and Nancy's latter years were particularly impactful in this way.  WHAM Supervisor Kelly Cox, and Movement Director Quinny Sacks definitely deserve a mention here.

As for the story, (no spoilers) Jessica (Emma Noakes) being the central focus, feels she has to leave the family dynamics behind when she becomes a Communist and befriends a Jew (Joe Coen). The conflict within the family and also internally was very well portrayed.  Nancy (Kirsty Besterman), the eldest sister and writer seemed to offer stability to her siblings when around there was a constant sense of chaos.  But Diana (Elisabeth Dermot Walsh) and Unity (Ell Potter) were the ones who made me take a deep breath at times, their utter convictions in their beliefs hard to stomach and especially because this play is about real people this adds a certain layer of concern as you watch, and realise that even within a family the political views of each person can vary so widely.  Often not in a good way.  Some of the comments these characters made may have been assumed to be sarcastic they are that extreme, if you were unsure if the play was based on past events in a real family.  And of course by their nature these remarks then lead you to think about current affairs around the world today.

The Party Girls is definitely a show that makes you think. The performances were wonderful from the whole cast, but the characters' politics and firm beliefs of two of them in particular definitely were an eye opener. When I left, I felt I wanted to learn a lot more about the Mitford family.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Party Girls is showing at Oxford Playhouse until 4 October, then the tour continues to Birmingham Rep from 6 – 11 October.

If you would like to see my curtain call photographs from this and other shows, please visit my Instagram.

I was gifted a ticket for this show in exchange for an honest review.