The Party Girls
The sensational story of the Mitford sisters.
The glamorous Mitford girls cut a glorious swathe through pre-war high society, amidst the glittering world of debutantes and dukes. 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.
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?
Venue
Presented by
Marlowe Theatre
Price
Special Offers
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Aged 16 to 25 Discounted tickets are available for the performance on Tue 7 Oct at 7.30pm for registered 16-25 members. T&Cs apply – Find Out More
Teens Go Free: Receive one complimentary young persons ticket (13-19 years) when you book one standard ticket on the performance on Wed 8 Oct at 7.30pm.
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Written by
Amy Rosenthal
Directed by
Richard Beecham
Designed by
Simon Kenny
Please scroll for full list of Creatives
Access Performances
Audio Described: Sat 11 Oct at 2.30pm
A Free Touch Tour is available to book at 1pm before the Audio Described performances.
Captioned: Wed 8 Oct at 7.30pm
Age Guidance
12+
Please note, no under 5s will be admitted to the auditorium.
Cast
Kirsty Besterman
Kirsty Besterman will be playing Nancy Mitford in The Party Girls.
Joe Coen
Joe Coen will be playing Bob Treuhaft in The Party Girls.
Elisabeth Dermot Walsh
Elisabeth Dermot Walsh will be playing Diana Mitford in The Party Girls.
Emma Noakes
Emma Noakes will be playing Jessica Mitford in The Party Girls.
Ell Potter
Ell Potter will be playing Unity Mitford in The Party Girls.
Flora Spencer-Longhurst
Flora Spencer-Longhurst will be playing Deborah Mitford in The Party Girls.
Creative Team
Writer
Amy Rosenthal
Amy Rosenthal
Amy Rosenthal is a British playwright. She won The Sunday Times Drama Award with her debut play Henna Night in 1999.
Her theatre credits include: Birth (Soho Theatre); A Quiet Voice (Kiln Theatre); Fear of Cherry Blossom (Cheltenham Everyman Theatre); Pelican Daughters (Shakespeare in Shoreditch and RIFT); Entanglement (Nova Music Opera and UK Tour); Polar Bears (A Play, A Pie, A Pint and West Yorkshire Playhouse); The Tailor Made Man (Arts Theatre); Beware of Young Girls: The Dory Previn Story, co-written with Kate Dimbleby (Matcham Room, Leicester Square Hippodrome); The Man Who Came To Brunch (Bush Theatre); Liberation (Yad Arts, Tricycle Theatre); The Workroom (RADA); Jitterbug Blitz (Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith); On The Rocks (Hampstead theatre); A Handbag (Old Vic 24 Hours Plays Celebrity Gala); Daring Pairings (Hampstead Theatre); Sitting Pretty (Watford Palace Theatre, UK Tour & Hypothetical Theatre, New York); Westminster (Paines Plough, Wild Lunch Series); Jerusalem Syndrome (Soho Theatre); Henna Night (Chelsea Theatre, Scarborough Festival) and Lifelines (Royal Court Young Writers Festival).
Director
Richard Beecham
Richard Beecham
Designer
Simon Kenny
Simon Kenny
Simon Kenny is the Set & Costume Designer for A Thousand Splendid Suns at Birmingham Rep.
Musical Theatre credits include: Lord Of The Rings (Chicago, Aukland, Sydney); Rehab The Musical (West End); The Lord Of The Rings; Whistle Down The Wind (Watermill); The Lion (Southwark Playhouse/Arizona Theatre Company, Japan, Korea); The Light in the Piazza, Merrily We Roll Along (Royal Academy of Music); The Wiz (Hope Mill); Ghost Quartet (Boulevard Theatre); Assassins (Watermill/Nottingham Playhouse); Cabaret (English Theatre Frankfurt/Deutsches Theater Munich); the multi award-winning Sweeney Todd in a purpose-built pie shop (West End/Off-Broadway, Drama Desk nomination – Outstanding Set Design of a Musical).
Other theatre credits include: Romeo and Juliet (Belgrade, Coventry); Link In My Bio (Luxembourg Opera), The Unseen (Riverside Studios); Bodies of Water (ATC); Here In America, Duet For One (Orange Tree, Richmond); Steel, Brassed Off (Theatre By The Lake); One Last Push (Wiltshire Creative); Murder In The Dark (UK Tour); The Real & Imagined History of the Elephant Man (Nottingham Playhouse); Family Tree (ATC); Blue/Orange (Royal & Derngate Northampton); Nothello (Belgrade/Coventry City of Culture); The Art of Illusion, The Death of a Black Man (Hampstead); Footfalls & Rockaby (Jermyn Street); Antigone (Mercury Colchester); several UK tours for Eclipse including The Gift (Stratford East) and Black Men Walking (Royal Exchange); Crongton Knights, Noughts & Crosses (Pilot/UK tours); Red Dust Road (National Theatre of Scotland); Giraffes Can’t Dance (Curve); The Children (English Theatre Frankfurt); Holes (Nottingham Playhouse/UK tour); Broken Glass (Watford Palace); Babette’s Feast (The Print Room); Rose (HOME); Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare’s Globe).
Lighting Designer
Aideen Malone
Aideen Malone
Composer & Sound Designer
Adrienne Quartly
Adrienne Quartly
Adrienne Quartly is the Composer and Sound Designer for The Party Girls.
Recent theatre credits include: The Playboy of the Western World (National Theatre); This is Not A Happy Room (Kings Head Theatre); Aladdin (Watford Palace Theatre Company); The Cat and the Canary (UK Tour); Kim’s Convenience (Riverside Studios / Park Theatre); The Wasp; Two Popes, (The English Theatre Frankfurt); Medusa’s First Kiss (Little Angel Theatre); Get Happy (The Barbican); Paddington Lo-Commotion (Histrionic Productions, Blenheim Palace); The Price (Gate Theatre, Dublin) and The Tempest (RSC).
Video Designer
Dick Straker
Dick Straker
Movement Director
Quinny Sacks
Quinny Sacks
Fight Director
Haruka Kuroda
Haruka Kuroda
Haruka Kuroda is a U.K. based Japanese multidisciplinary artist excelling as an actor, voice-over artist, fight director, and intimacy coordinator.
Recent Fight Director credits include: The House Party (Leeds Playhouse & UK Tour); Of Mice and Men (Derby Theatre); Three Sisters (Sam Wanamaker Playhouse); Kinky Boots The Musical (Leicester Curve Theatre); Ballet Shoes (National Theatre); Never Let Me Go (Kingston Rose Theatre); A Raisin in The Sun (Headlong/ Leeds Playhouse/ Oxford Playhouse/ Lyric Hammersmith); Pagliacci; Edgar (Holland Park Opera); Ernani (Buxton Opera House); The Comedy of Errors (Guildhall School of Music and Drama); The Taming of The Shrew (Shakespeare’s Globe); The House Party (Chicester Festival Theatre); Underdog: The Other Brontë (National Theatre); Romeo & Juliet (The New Wolsey Theatre) and Jekyll & Hyde (National Theatre).
Casting Director