Safari Party

Tim Firth has had some huge recent successes with Calendar Girl, Our house and Kinky Boots where we grow to care about characters and emotionally engage with their stories. His earlier plays Neville’s Island, first written in 1992 and Safari Party written in 2002 rely on placing small groups of people in situations that create tension between them but in both plays, while we can enjoy the setup, we don’t emotionally engage with the characters or care about the outcome. Interestingly Nevilles Island was rewritten in 2022 as Sheila’s Island for four women changing its feel, so seeing the character Dan in Safari Party played as Dani did add a more sinister dimension to the narrative of parental abuse. 

The Safari Party in question takes place in three locations, the farmhouse of Adam and his sister Dani, the conservatory added to the barn of Lol and Esther and the furniture store of Inga. Over three courses of a meal together the secrets and lies of their relationships are revealed raising the tension between them. Shinfield players cast successfully created the six characters and do the best they can with the rather static situation in each act. 

The challenge of the three very different settings was met with a practical solution of a simple beige box set without doors or windows, dressed in the bare minimum of furniture and was just enough to set the scene. It is always interesting to see something different from the regular fayre of Musicals, Pantomimes and TV sitcoms recreations so Shinfield Players are to be applauded for their choice, and the great efforts of the cast to create the bickering characters.

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