Review: The Bed Party
Picture: The Bed Party curtain call(Credit: Creative Futures Photography)
The Bed Party is promoted as ‘a window into lesbian life as you’ve never seen it before [...] a fast-paced, smart, funny, political romp all set in one room; in one bed.’ I’d describe it as a 24hour window into the lives of five close friends and housemates—with moments of love, laughter, revelations, and reality.
It’s a show that will resonate with anyone who has experienced the 30-something challenges of dating, friendship, and growing up. Jasmine (Whitney Duff) and Finn (Sarah Huston) are the definitely-not-monogamous couple whose bed is at the centre of the house—and which is the setting for this particular ‘party.’ Their evening is interrupted by their three friends: Tara (Shanay De Marco) is Jasmine’s best friend/housemate who comes home after yet another difficult ‘first date;’ Bri (Libby Jeisman) returns after leaving her partner; and George (Ophelia Novak) spins into the room after a promising first date. In the interests of not introducing any spoilers, let’s just say that the next 24 hours include truths and revelations, a proposal and heartbreak, and recurring themes of friendship and of coming to terms with identity.
The casting was solid, but for me there were three standout performances.
Whitney Duff’s Jasmine was superb. Duff is well-cast in the central role of the funny, feisty, and loving ‘Jas.’ I also particularly enjoyed Ophelia Novak’s George. Novak’s character was no two-dimensional ditsy horoscope follower—but was also a witty, funny, and lovable housemate. The duvet moon journey was a highlight of the show, and understandably worked really well as a distraction for the newly-single Bri (Jeisman).
Emily Rowbottom had the least stage time, but made a lasting impression as Bri’s former partner, Kelly. The heart-rending dilemma of the desire to have a child with the love of your life, who absolutely does not want to parent a child, was movingly conveyed by Rowbottom. Perhaps this sub-plot needs to be pulled out of the main show—for example, having the Bri-Kelly duologue as a short prologue, which would also help keep the pacing of the main ‘Bed Party’ as a shorter piece? But this story might easily work as the basis of a completely separate play.
Picture: The Bed Party (Credit: Creative Futures Photography)
Picture: Recalling childhood travels to the moon, in The Bed Party (Credit: Creative Futures Photography).
Congratulations to the Producers on attracting a strong creative team (the show is a co-production between Gluyas and PIP Theatre, with Nicola Gordon as Assistant Producer). It is definitely worth getting into your seat early, so that you can enjoy the excellent set that creates a real sense of a lived-in home, and acts as a suitable backdrop to the action (Genevieve Morrow Ganner, Set Designer). The lighting design works well (Cale Dennis, Lighting Designer), and I loved the soundtrack (Nikki Savvides, Sound Designer).
In the excellent program, Sophia Davidson Gluyas (Writer, Director, and Producer) writes about the show as providing an affirmative depiction of non-monogamy, and as a play which ‘celebrates and elevates friendship.’ The writing is good, and particularly well-observed with the scenes that involved at least three of the actors. The friendship between the housemates was believable, and I am sure that most of us could identify with share house confidences and humour (I just loved one-liners such as ‘a contestant on the ‘Sale of the Century’ is not a TV star’). However, I felt that some of the duologues would benefit from tighter editing and more natural language; for example, do we all really sprinkle our conversations with ‘normative’?.
The show did run longer than the advertised ‘fast-paced’ 80 minutes. I agree with the creative decision not to have an interval, as I feel it would have affected the overall experience for the audience. But some editing, and improving the pace (for example, reducing the length of the break between acts, minimising the unspoken moments, and keeping up the tempo), would have helped in keeping this to a 75-80 minute piece.
Musing on the show, I came away thinking about the nature of family. Representation might traditionally have centred on heterosexual families, complete with 2.4 children. In The Bed Party, Gluyas re-presents ‘family’ as combining different identities that are not held together by monogamy or having children—and where family can also be formed through the glue of friendship, humour, love and truth.
Picture: The Bed Party, Genevieve Morrow Ganner, Set Designer (Credit: Creative Futures Photography).
Audience information: The Bed Party (12-28 October), PIP Theatre, 20 Park Road, Milton QLD 4064. 130 minutes (no interval). 16+. References to sexual assault, and the onstage use of herbal cigarettes. Tickets $35-45.
The reviewer attended the Wednesday 18 October 2023 performance (7:30pm).