The House Party, Leeds Playhouse Review
Sesley Hope and Synnøve Karlsen in The House Party. Photo by Ikin Yum
Written by Adam for Theatre and Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review
After premiering at Chichester Festival Theatre last year, Headlong’s The House Party begins its 2025 tour in Leeds Playhouse. Based on an adaptation of August Strindberg’s Miss Julie, The House Party takes an 18th Century text and propels us into modern day. Taking characters and themes from the original text, it is easy to see the similarities and connections between both plays; but The House Party equally stands on its own two feet. Laura Lomas has done an excellent job of creating a unique and contemporary adaptation aimed at a Gen Z audience, highlighting the everyday struggles young adults face in the world of today.
The play begins on Julie’s 18th Birthday; as we meet Julie (Synnøve Karlsen) and her doting best friend Christine (Selsey Hope) who are getting ready for Julie’s party, which is being held at Julie’s father’s lavish house. As the evening progresses, we are introduced to Christine’s boyfriend, Jon (Tom Lewis) and see how the events of the party, mixed with alcohol play out.
Cue the fantastic ensemble, powered by Frantic Assembly, who's party sequences are interspersed throughout the scenes and keep the pace of the rollercoaster evening alive. These sequences are fascinating to watch as the movements they create as one, paired with some fantastic lighting effects and loud dance music, transport the audience to the party themselves. This clever direction not only moves the plot forward showing a passing of time but also highlights some of the ups and downs of the turbulent party, through artistic movement and dance.
There was an undercurrent of tension and angst throughout supported by an incredible soundscape. Whether it was upbeat music with lyrics, the bass from the party, or an atmospheric soundscape underscoring a scene, Giles Thomas’ sound design made you sit at the edge of your seat, waiting for the next secret to be revealed. As part of the set design a digital clock provided a key accent to the tension building throughout the evening. Loren Elstein’s set was cleverly adapted and manipulated by the ensemble created different spaces in the house, however, was slightly spoiled in the final scene change, when two stage managers helped with the final transition. After the ensemble had moved the set for the rest of the show, it felt quite jarring in comparison and for a moment broke the world they’d worked so hard on creating.
The show is pacey even with a running time of 1 hour 40 minutes (no interval), the right decision as an interval would have broken the flow of the evening.
A special mention must go to Selsey Hope as Christine, whose powerful emotions accented the tumultuous events of the evening, culminating in a heartfelt final scene.
The play focuses on the crossroads that teenagers are faced with at 18 and how we are led to believe that our decisions at this age will carve out the rest of our lives. It also highlights how the strong themes from Strindberg’s Miss Julie, are still very prominent today and The House Party isn’t afraid to tackle these issues.
Headlong state that their “productions are an invitation: to come and see something in a new way” and that’s exactly what they’ve done here... You are all invited to The House Party.
At Leeds Playhouse until 1 March 2025
★★★★
