Rose Theatre Kingston – until Saturday 22nd March 2025
Reviewed by C Burlinge
5*****
The Rose Theatre brings you the production of The House Party; the story of two best friends Julie (Synnøve Karlsen) and Christine (Selsey Hope), who both come from very different backgrounds. Julie, whose upbringing is one of privilege and money, feels very alone after losing her mother and having an almost non-existent relationship with her father. She holds a dark personality and comes across as damaged. Whereas, Christines life has been harder, she has been brought up on a council estate and is now caring for her mother, who has mental health problems, making her feel trapped. She is desperately trying to change her future and has an interview at Cambridge University; could this be a way out of her current situation?
It’s the night of Julie’s 18th birthday party and she decides to throw an impromptu party at her father’s lavish town house, in retaliation to him letting her down again for a date with his younger girlfriend! When her secret comes out that her boyfriend won’t be attending because he’s dumped her through text, Christine is left desperately trying to pick up the pieces once again, but at what personal cost? Whilst Julie parties the night away upstairs, Christine and her boyfriend Jon (Tom Lewis) talk about their future together whilst cleaning up the mess. Jon isn’t a fan of Julie’s, and it soon emerges that they have a history together, as Jon’s mum used to clean for the family.
What is meant to be a happy event leads to secrets unravelling between the three, creating a path of destruction caused by the people they trusted the most. Then with social media playing its part things will truly never be the same again.
Julie and Christine’s parts were played exceptionally well, with an outstanding connection for all to see, making the audience truly believe that you were watching two best friends go through many familiar experiences within life. These had the audience on many occasions laughing out loud, especially watching them getting ready for the party together. Jon played the perfect boyfriend offering much love and care, but with dark undertones showing through.
The production offered some great house music, along with exceptional lighting and choreography, which created the perfect scenes to go alongside the story. Short dance scenes, expertly presented, were used along with strobe lighting and a display of a digital clock to move from one scene to another, and to show the passage of time over the course of the night. There were some funny and heartfelt moments with twists of darkness all making this a fantastic production that is well worth a watch.