Cold Meat Party

Synopsis

A group of friends - "cool! A gay pop star, a feminist film-maker and a homophobic politician" - meet in a Manchester B&B for the funeral and reading of the will of their recently deceased college friend. They gather to remember past friendships and the happy days of success but also to face the painful present. For one of them this will be more painful than the others can imagine... Contains adult material.

Our Review:

13 March 2003

This new play by Brad Fraser is being performed in rep with Chekhov's The Seagull at Manchester's Royal Exchange. In my humble opinion Cold Meat Party will be talked about as the more successful of the two.

A group of friends (consisting of a gay pop star, a feminist filmmaker and a homophobic politician among others) meet in a Manchester B&B for the funeral of their recently deceased college friend. They gather to discuss their past, but rose-tinted glasses are not supplied, and each of them is forced to face the fact that success has a sell-by date.

On hearing this synopsis, you may imagine some badly written farce where characters are forced together with the sole purpose of milking comedy from the stereotypes on offer. It is a credit, then, to Fraser's laugh-out-loud script - full of contemporary references, ranging from the net to sexuality and fame - that quite the opposite is true. This production is a joy to watch, and ...

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Latest User Review

USER: Whatsonstage.com (130.88.89.101) - 6 May 2003:

In a word: dreadful! KB, Chester...

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