The House Party at Chichester’s Minerva Theatre – review

There has never been a shortage of Miss Julie reimaginings. August Strindberg’s 1888 play, exploring themes of class and misogyny, was way ahead of its time – and consequently has been reworked on stage and film innumerable times. I doubt it has ever been done quite so ferociously as this new production, currently blowing the roof off Chichester’s normally sedate and well-manicured studio theatre.

Laura Lomas has brought the classic play bang up to date in a production directed by Holly Race Roughan that is bracingly relevant and searingly shocking. The class wars and the misogyny are all still there, but there is now the addition of revenge porn and the advent of social media controlling the lives of our teenagers. The class constructs of the past may be long gone – or radically diminished at any rate – but the judging that we all witness via the increasingly vitriolic trial-by-social-media that inevitably consumes our younger generation’s sense of self-worth is just as damaging.

Christine (Rachelle Diedericks) is now a young student, caring for her disabled mother but desperately trying to better herself with an impending interview for Cambridge the next morning. On the other hand, Julie (Nadia Parkes) is from a wealthy family and has never experienced either hardship or responsibility. As she TikTok’s her way through her privileged life, she is oblivious to her differences and unprepared for the hardship of reality. Most of all she is painfully damaged, a beautiful confliction to her narcissistic manipulation also on display.

The house party of the title is Julie’s way of rebelling against her widower father. As drink, petulance and quite a bit of broken desperation takes hold, the night soon descends into carnage. Christine’s wholesome boyfriend Jon (Josh Finan) arrives – the son of Julie’s family cleaner complete with Scouse accent – and he soon becomes a source of amusement to Julie. Perhaps those class wars aren’t quite as radically diminished as we thought.

Roughan directs with an energetic fervour that perfectly depicts the messiness of youth and the naivety that betrays their noisy bravado. Co-produced with Headlong and Frantic Assembly, there is an electric framing of thumping music (Giles Thomas) and pulsating dancing (Scott Graham). It’s an exciting palette onto which the trio of young actors can blast full throttle into proceedings. Diedericks’ Christine is full of warmth, care and understanding. Finan’s thoughtful Jon is baffled by the dynamics of his girlfriend’s friendship with Julie – “posh people are mental”, he exclaims at one point.

Parkes is thrilling to watch as Julie. It’s a fearless performance that ebbs and flows with vulnerability and monstrous self-absorption. A headstrong and irresponsible teenager, she babbles with inane chatter like a harmless but damaged child before terrifyingly stalking her pray with a calculating evil streak. This is a young lady to watch.

Some of the language that Lomas uses is simply too eloquent and betrays the modernity of the new setting. But this is generally countered well by the excellence of the central trio of performances. The decision to add a 20-minute epilogue of sorts after the interval is an unnecessary addition to what could otherwise have been a powerfully unnerving ending. Not all loose ends need to be tied up.

On stage seating as part of Loren Elstein’s set design provides a backdrop of party guests, but more importantly they are the unsettling eyes of judgement that are watching every move. It adds a layer of claustrophobic intensity to the unfolding drama. Over 130 years since its premiere, Strindberg’s play still speaks to us. What a great start to Chichester’s Minerva season.