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We all have to get along with our neighbours but in some circumstances that's more difficult than others. Richard Harris's 1990 play, directed by Mark Piper, set designed by Julie Godfrey, is a story of conflict and its consequences brought about when Michael, (Matthew Cottle) an uptight doctor, and his put-upon wife Roma (Flinty Williams) decide to hold a barbecue to show off their renovated house to their yuppie friends. Their neighbour is a grumpy old man (George Cole) who objects to the disruption, whilst also fighting off attempts from his unpopular daughter-in-law, played by Tracey Childs, to get him out of his home and into a flat, presumably to sell the house to another upwardly-mobile couple keen to gentrify the area.
The big day slips into disaster as things go wrong and one by one the doctor's friends find excuses not to attend the barbecue, with the old man gleefully stirring up further trouble at every opportunity. There are some gentle laughs as the old man's son (Peter Amory) adds to the confusion by telling tall tales of bodies under patios and pots of money buried under the precious plants, but the first half lacks the pace needed and the one-dimensional nature of the characters fails to make the audience really care about them. We know exactly how the increasingly stressed doctor is going to react to every unplanned event; the grumpy old man, obsessed with everything that's wrong with his heart, prostate, veins, may be mildly irritating but he doesn't come across as nasty enough to justify the eventual outburst of dislike and pent-up resentment from his son.
Given that this is a farce, there's no opportunity to delve into the darker undercurrents of feeling that are touched upon as the play unwinds — Roma's unfortunate capacity for mixing up words with sexual imagery (dildo rail for dado rail, vibrator not vibration) hints at the suppressed frustrations and desires that she eventually allows herself to express — and the daughter-in-law clearly suffers from a hinted at inability to have children, but these are all lightly treated. A much darker play would result from an exploration of those issues, but also a much more engaging one.
Luckily the interest level is raised in the second half by the appearance of the first guests at the party and the flirting between Sandy and Toby kicks off the really funny stuff. Katy Landis and Harry Gostelow play their parts brilliantly and cause complete chaos involving the old man's bathroom, motorbike and garden pond. This story was probably a lot funnier in the early days of yuppification; now it feels slightly flimsy but is nevertheless good fun and makes for a pleasant couple of hours' easy entertainment. © DOS
“Party Piece” is in Richmond on the 24th until the 29th of January, 2005.
