Coming to opening night of PARTY GAMES which is at the New Theatre in Cardiff this Week, you know it’s a new play from writer and former political adviser MICHAEL MCMANUS but somehow the plot and characters feel very familiar.
I’ve been a journalist for many years but still know very little about the inner workings of Parliament, this ‘fictional‘ comedy however gives us an insight into the somewhat mad and often preposterous goings on behind those closed doors, from a writer who has been there and seen it all.
The main characters aren’t real but you can’t help but feel we’ve seen each of them either working for, or even running our country. There are certainly some you will relate to.
Don’t be put off that this is a comedy-drama about politics, if that’s not your thing. It delivers much more than that; dealing with working and personal relationships, skirting around a boss who seemingly doesn’t have a clue as to what he’s doing. He does though have elements of previous leaders, with the occasional blast of ‘schoolboy humour’ thrown in for good measure.
John Wagner (MATTHEW COTTLE) is the PM, and you have to ask yourself how on earth a bumbling, nincompoop can make it into higher office – this is the stage PM I’m referring to incidentally. Having said that, he is charming and silly and you can’t help but warm to him. Matthew carries off the role perfectly, although I did spot a little of Prince Edward rearing his head occasionally (Matthew played him in the TV series The Windsors).
Guiding our PM and the One Nation party through government are his advisors Luke (JASON CALLENDER) and Candice (KRISSI BOHN). His wife Anne, played by NATALIE DUNN, the Deputy Prime Minister Lisa is ERICA TAVARES-KOUASSI, Chief Whip is WILLIAM OXBORROW and the increasingly power-hungry tech genius Seth is played by RYAN EARLY.
You probably notice that DEBRA STEPHENSON isn’t in that line up. I spoke to Ryan and Matthew after the show and it’s for personal reasons Debra wasn’t there last night. We do of course wish her well.
We do get to hear Debra throughout the show as she is also the voice of an ‘Alexa‘ type piece of tech which is front and centre for most of the performance, listening in on everything that is said and responding appropriately. Medianne, as she is known, is the brainchild of Seth, a former member of staff at Universal Technology.
The story is set in 2026, and although that isn’t too far in the future, it’ll be interesting to see where technology is taking us. Throughout the story Medianne becomes more actively involved in day-to-day decisions made within Government, which is no doubt a true (but funny one in this show) representation of how technology could affect political decisions.
When I first walked into the auditorium I thought the set (designed by FRANCIS O’CONNOR) looked like two massive Lego building boards, and actually that is a little how it is. Pieces glide across the stage, with doors coming in and out of place. Panels rise and fall to reveal a small part of the house of commons, where the PM delivers his big speech. And at one point everything is locked down, which made a reference to our previous lockdown which the then real PM took us through.
Party Games is set a couple of years in the future but a lot of what happens in the plot revolves around the last few years, with references to Brexit and Covid. Although there is a lot of political jargon in the script, it’s the characters who bring the show to life. I kind of liked the occasional farts from the Prime Minister, I could imagine this may well have happened for real behind closed Number 10 doors at one time or other.
Here’s Matthew & Ryan telling us about their respective characters in the play….
Michael McManus worked in Central Office while Margaret Thatcher and John Major were Prime Ministers and as a special adviser to a number of UK ministers. He was then head of Ted Heath’s private office from 1995 to 2000 and the Conservative Party candidate for Watford in 2001. He also spent a lot of his professional life here in Wales, so his insider experience must have found its way into the script and onto the New Theatre stage last night – I certainly hope so.
I do want to mention Natalie as the PMs ever so controlling, and a little bit flirty wife. Also Ryan, as spin doctor Seth who grows increasingly agitated as the story develops, to the point where he thinks he can rule the country and indeed the government itself. It doesn’t quite go to his plan, as a couple of other creepy characters come along to sort him out (no spoilers here).
Party Games is fast paced and funny and while it doesn’t set out to change the political world, it certainly makes you think about what has gone before and how ‘interesting‘ some of our real-life characters were.
PARTY GAMES! is at the New Theatre in Cardiff this week through to Friday 24th May. Performances are at 7:30pm each evening with a 2:30pm matinee today (Wednesday). For more details and tickets, go HERE.
