“Don’t join the WhatsApp group…” New play PARTY SEASON comes to Lowry

Party Season is a razor-sharp new comedy about privilege, party rings and the pressures of being a parent.

It is a sugar-fuelled, bobbin-winding fever dream where class identities collide, social niceties unravel, and underslept parents do their best to hold it all together when three children’s parties take place across one weekend.

Co-commissioned by Lowry and co-produced by Royal & Derngate Northampton and The Wardrobe Ensemble, Party Season comes to Lowry in Salford from Tuesday 12^th to Saturday 16^th May after its recent World Premiere in Northampton. The Lowry run includes a ‘baby friendly’ matinee on Wednesday 13^th May at 2:30pm.

A collective of nine founded in 2011, The Wardrobe Ensemble are celebrating their 15^th anniversary year. Known for their energetic, irreverent, silly and serious plays that dissect the twenty-first century experience, they have enjoyed acclaim for work including The Last of the Pelican Daughters, Mog’s Christmas, RIOT at the National Theatre’s Shed 1972: The Future of Sex and Education, Education, Education which subsequently transferred to the West End.

Party Season is co-directed by Royal & Derngate’s Artistic Director (and Wardrobe Ensemble founding member) Jesse Jones (Top Gs Like Me, Breaking the Code) and The Wardrobe Ensemble’s Helena Middleton (Mog’s Christmas, Royal & Derngate). The cast includes Wardrobe Ensemble members Tom England, Jesse Meadows and Ben Vardy (all seen most recently in Mog’s Christmas), James Newton (Moby Dick, Simple8 in association with Royal & Derngate), and Kerry Lovell (The Last of the Pelican Daughters, Royal & Derngate). Other cast members are Jacade Simpson (Get Up, Stand Up, West End) and Fowzia Madar (Henry V, Insane Root Theatre at Temple Church).

The Set and Costume Designer is Bronia Housman (The Wizard of Oz, Salisbury Playhouse), the Lighting Designer is Chris Swain (Kin, Gecko Theatre Company), the Sound Designer is Beth Duke (The Jolly Christmas Postman, Royal & Derngate), and Tom Brennan, another founding member of The Wardrobe Ensemble, is Dramaturg for the production.

The Stage

★★★★

“a relatable, silly and charming depiction of the chaos and pressures of parenting”

What’s On Stage

★★★★

“Party Season is a play full of unexpected depth, which still offers plenty of opportunities to chuckle at the bizarre truths of parenting.”

A Small Mind at the Theatre

★★★★★

“Party Season is theatre gold, offering a careful balance between comedy and raw emotional storytelling”

Party Season plays at Lowry, Salford Tuesday 12^th to Saturday 16^th May. Tickets are available here.