Party

I can't remember when i guffawed with such uncontrolled fervour (well, during a play, film, book or at anything on the TV, certainly) as when i was watching Tom Basden's Party, a play about 5 students gathered in a potting shed to set up a political party - albeit one with no name, no policies, no beliefs or manifesto, but a great deal of personal ambition and faith in the grand objectives: change the world (never mind to what)! China - for or against it? Is 'them' offensive? There's internal politics by the bucket load, though, if nothing else.

Right on, petulant, megalomaniac, flighty - each of these founding party members is thrown into sharp relief by the presence of Duncan, the new and fifth member who has unwittingly been drawn into the party to create an uneven voting number, and whose father handily owns a printing press, but who himself mistakenly believes he's come for a celebratory party rather than a political party, and persistently asks for cake.

It's less of a biting political satire than a farcical one, but it's no less effective for that, and the moments of physical comedy - a leg flung out, water being rigorously poured, the eye rollings and hand movements of a fastidious, but bafflingly ignorant, party member (a quasi Mrs Malaprop transposed to a contemporary political environment) - are brilliantly milked for all they are worth.

Sadly the run is over, but it's being adapted for radio, which'll definitely be worth tuning into.