Marlowe Theatre announces world premiere and tour of THE PARTY GIRLS
Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury has announced the world premiere of a timely and passionate new play by Amy Rosenthal, The Party Girls, which is the first touring production to be produced by the Kent theatre.
Opening at the Marlowe in the first week of September, the production then tours to Coventry, Malvern, Eastbourne Oxford and Birmingham Rep. Casting is to be announced.
Marlowe Theatre Chief Executive, Deborah Shaw, said: “When we first read The Party Girls by Amy Rosenthal, we knew we had a majorly important, prescient play on our hands and I couldn’t be more delighted to launch Marlowe Theatre Productions with this world premiere. It showcases our commitment to creating world-class theatre in Kent – establishing a new producing base, working with top creatives and fulfilling the potential of this wonderful theatre and its staff team.
“Amy’s play captures the wit of Nancy Mitford’s novels and tells a cracking love story across continents, to a backdrop of the rise of extremism and dangerous populist leaders, intent on remaking the world order. The Party Girls, with its great shifts of history seen through a female lens could not be more resonant for our times.”
Writer Amy Rosenthal said: “When I started researching this play I knew little about the Mitford sisters beyond their notorious affiliations. It began as an enquiry into how a family of aristocratic young women became so violently politicised and polarised, and it turned into a passion project. It’s taken a while for the play to find its rightful production, but in that time its themes have grown increasingly resonant, as the forces of Fascism rise up across the world and Antisemitism proves once again that it was only sleeping. The play also sets out to explore family, identity and love, with humour and ultimately with hope. I’m thrilled beyond words to be collaborating on it with Richard and our fantastic team, to bring our Party Girls to fittingly riotous life.”
The glamorous Mitford girls cut a glorious swathe through pre-war high society, amidst the glittering world of debutantes and dukes so perfectly evoked in Nancy Mitford’s novels (The Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate). But as Fascism rises and political storm clouds crackle over carefree country houses, the bonds of sisterhood are threatened by new and treacherous desires.
Amy Rosenthal’s compelling, touching and witty new play explores the true story of a family riven by political extremism, seen through the eyes of Jessica (Decca) Mitford as she battles to stay true to her beliefs, whilst moving further and further from the values of her once-beloved sisters. Nancy aspires to be a celebrated novelist, Diana and Unity fall for the dangerous, charismatic leaders of the Far Right in Britain and Germany, and Debo sets her cap at a Duke. Meanwhile Decca crosses continents in her own passionate pursuit of love – but can she ever escape her sisters and her past?
The production is directed by Richard Beecham, with design by Simon Kenny, lighting by Aideen Malone, composition and sound design by Adrienne Quartly, and casting by Annelie Powell CDG.