Party Piece

Richard Harris is well known for his ability to craft plays that focus on the development, and sometimes dissolution, of relationships between characters.  Examples of this include Outside Edge and indeed tonight’s production, Party Piece.  This is a play that is set on the night of Michael's (Simon Goodson) and Roma's (Sharon Hughes) fancy dress house-warming party.  The evening looks to be a typically English BBQ among friends and colleagues until a number of ‘domestic disasters’ strike, including a distinct lack of guests, a burning garden shed, a Zimmer frame and the prospect of an irate husband on the prowl. 

Tonight, the Blyth Players cast and crew came together to make Party Piece a very enjoyable evening, with all elements of the production enhancing the enjoyment for the suitably appreciative audience.

Party Piece is essentially a story of two families – the Smethurst’s, a Hospital doctor and his wife (Michael Goodson and Sharon Hughes) who have a passion for house reclamation (from examining and ‘recycling’ the contents of any new Skip in the neighbourhood to house clearances), who enjoy a life built on routine, planning and list ticking - and two generations of the Hinsons.  The mother (Angela Williams) who has lived in the house next door nearly all her life, who is protective of her son (George Earle) for whom no woman is good enough in her view, and Jennifer his driven, yet slightly neurotic wife (Katie Wilson) who takes a certain dark joy from sparring with George’s mother.     

Simon, Sharon, Angela, George and Katie should be congratulated for the ensemble acting performances they each brought to their respective roles.  They each delivered very believable individual character arcs and made their roles authentically three-dimensional by under, rather than overplaying the foibles, habits and characteristics of their respective roles. 

The relationship between the 5 main protagonists was very ably extended by the performances of Michael Pearce (who also was making his debut as a Director with Blyth players) as Tony Hancock and Debs Pickwell as Sandra Lloyd-Meredith. They each brought a great rush of energy to the proceedings as the comedy became broader in the second act and again made their characters and their motivations very believable.

I am always impressed how the company use the space at the Barnby Memorial Hall and tonight the design team had excelled themselves with the two rear gardens complete with collapsing drainpipes, fully operational patio doors, washing lines extending into the auditorium, low flying frozen food, operational garden sheds and smoking BBQs.

So, many thanks and congratulations Michael and all at Blyth Players for another entertaining evening and I look forward to seeing you in 2017.
 

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