AS the nation prepares to go to the polls for the UK’s 2024 General Election on July 4 a new comedy at Bath’s Theatre Royal could be viewed as aptly topical.
Except that playwright Michael McManus’s fifth play, Party Games! manages to miss its mark on numerous occasions and relies largely on schoolboy humour to gain cheap laughs.
But any production that descends to using toilet humour, given the rich vein of political comedy and satire that could be derived from inside No.10 Downing Street doesn’t really deserve to be given a good review.
This world premiere production, directed by Joanna Read, director and chief executive of the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, is embarking on a nationwide tour just weeks before voters take to the polls.
Set in 2026, Party Games! sees John Waggner, newly-elected leader of the hastily formed centrist One Nation Party, an improbable coalition of the Conservatives and Labour parties, presiding over a hung parliament, a discontented electorate and striking cheesemakers.
He and his power-hungry MPs must cling onto authority through whatever shaky means possible, aided by a Svengali spin doctor loosely based on PM Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser Dominic Cummings, and some dodgy data from an Alexa-type AI machine called Medianne.
While it has some decent performances from Matthew Cottle (John Waggner), Debra Stephenson (Lisa Williams and voice of Medianne), Krissi Bohn (Candice Edwards), Natalie Dunne (Anne Waggner) and Shaun Chambers (Luke), and William Oxborrow (playing the Chief Whip and multiple roles) the first night was not without its flaws.
Fluffed lines here and there during Tuesday’s opening night, plus the use of a ‘farting’ toy to generate cheap laughs put me off and, in addition, I found Ryan Early’s performance as the Svengali spin-doctor character Seth Dickens, intensely aggressive and irritating largely because of his habit of swaying from side to side.
The Theatre Royal press release describes the production as an “hilariously acerbic new comedy” written by a political insider.
While it has its moments, with some topical references to Diane Abbot, Clacton and Rishi Sunak, it’s most certainly not in the same league as Yes Minister, the political satire TV sitcom written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn.
It’s not even as funny as the recent stage adaptation of the smash-hit TV series, Drop the Dead Donkey, which came to the Theatre Royal in March.
There are references to the Covid inquiry running to 2057, PPE, Brexit, the state of the NHS, changing the No.10 wallpaper, disbanding the House of Lords, an anti-monarchist protest, and the inevitable call for a Scottish referendum for independence, as well as a lockdown due to volcanic ash from Iceland.
The classic line ‘I sold my Hoover as it was only gathering dust’ – yawn – even makes an unwelcome return, and there’s weak puns on ‘Un-clear deterrent’ and ‘log-sticks’ instead of log-jams for the audience to groan at – and they did.
References to the more recent rapid change of PMs, the Rwanda deportations, the Post Office scandal and SNP fraud, might have given the play more topical issues to get its teeth into but these were ignored.
The Chief Whip enters No.10 carrying a glass box containing a venomous tarantula spider called Maggie, which later dies and is succeeded by one called Theresa. I almost clapped when it bit Seth and he died.
If you’re looking for a grown-up political comedy, Party Games! is unlikely to fit the bill and should be avoided.
Party Games! appears at the Theatre Royal Bath to Saturday, June 22. To book tickets contact the Theatre Royal Bath Box Office on 01225 448844 or visit theatreroyal.org.uk
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