It's My Party (And I'll Die If I Want To) [I don't do stars]

It's nice to know that any review of this show at this stage of the season is not going to make a difference to the bookings, because it is booked out, largely no doubt due to a very successful publicity campaign by Melz. So this review will really be by way of feedback and maybe my contribution to some discussion. In recent years, Garrick has developed a bit of a reputation for its comedies. Indeed, several of the players in this show will be familiar faces to fans of its fast-moving farces. This play is no farce though - it is a 'black comedy', raising serious social issues along with the laughs. And it is set in Australia, not the UK or USA, although that is not really relevant. The plot seems simple enough. Dysfunctional family, dad, mum, son and 2 daughters - dad has only 111 minutes to live (coincidentally, about the same as the running time of the show itself) - so all the dirty linen gets washed and hung out to dry in front of the token total stranger. So as not to spoil the surprises, I won't go into detail about what is revealed. Suffice it to say, there are some inter-generational conflicts as well as some serious personal flaws exposed along with some very Waugh-ish observations on the 'Australian Way of Death'. The narrative is well-constructed, if a bit contrived in places. The characters are well-portrayed, although they are all so physically dissimilar, it is a little difficult to believe they are related. The set and light design is basic but functional. The background music could have been a bit more varied - and Aussie - but that may have been as per the script. In any case, it is a very funny show and those capacity audiences are loving it. Well done all.