Review: Party Favour, Etcetera Theatre

Unsettled by the idea that “The Big One” might strike Beverly Hills at any time, as a major earthquake is now famously long overdue, Fiona (Shelby Corley) begins Party Favour with frazzled nerves. Yet she’s also trying her best to live in denial, and the play smartly identifies these major ideas in the opening few minutes while still managing to be very funny.

Establishing these topics helps highlight the contradiction at the heart of the character. Fiona wants to be confidence personified, but the world appears to be conspiring against her as the two parties she attends spin out of control. She’s present at both because she works as a Plus Sized Party Princess character, yet the first gets off to a bad start when the mother of the birthday girl makes it clear just how unimpressed she is that Fiona isn’t the stick thin Disney style princess she expected her husband to have ordered.

After all but forcing her way in, Fiona explains that she works for a company that believes in the importance of seeing the beauty in all shapes and sizes, and soon quickly bonds with the birthday girl. These sequences introduce the theme of body positivity in a playful and thoughtful manner, while also highlighting just how skilled Fiona is with handling somewhat precocious children, and how she manages to cope when it all begins to go horribly wrong.

Alas, her situation is far more precarious at the second party, which takes place a short time later. Once again booked by the child’s father, this time he’s paid her a lot, lot more and expects an erotic experience. Despite Fiona clearly setting boundaries right at the beginning, a sense of unease pervades these sections, as it examines the ways in which men may attempt to manipulate others.

A sequence involving audience participation goes on a little too long in a work this short, if only because momentum is briefly lost, and combined with an oddly abrupt ending it’s a show which feels like it needs a little more development. Yet for a play being performed here for the very first time it’s already in a remarkably assured form, and there’s a great deal to admire.

Corley is exceptional throughout, meeting all the production’s many demands with aplomb. We can instantly sympathise as she’s placed in scenarios which no one would wish to encounter, but what makes the work so captivating is the level of physical comedy. Be it attempting to be conservatively seductive or highlighting just how wrong a child’s party can go, Corley’s clowning has the audience laughing hard throughout.

There’s subtle use of lighting and two considered sound effects which perfectly change the tone and atmosphere of the piece: to go from almost joyously delightful to the kind of unease that leads audiences to gasp takes real skill, especially when tackling the concepts that this inspired work explores.

One person shows can sometimes be a little exhausting, especially if there’s an element of trauma in the narrative, but spending almost an hour in Corley’s company is never less than an absolute delight. This is the kind of performance that is enormously memorable, and also one that highlights just how unique, and invigorating, fringe theatre can be.

Written by Shelby Corley and Alexandra Sophia Ashe
Produced by Ella Jump
Directed by Kay Brattan
Presented by Bite The Hand Productions

Party Favour runs at The Hope Theatre until Friday 15 May.