Review: The Office Party

By James Metcalf

The Office Party by the York Settlement Community Players, and showing at Friargate Theatre, was, unfortunately, somewhat of a disappointment. With themes apparently surrounding the ‘sexual politics’ involved with any regular business office at Christmas time, its poorly scripted dialogue, hammy over-acting, and clumsy, falsely intimate setting simply negated any positive impact from characters that were never more than two-dimensional clichés of office workers at their worst.

The characterisation of Andy (played by Matt Simpson) as an almost-middle-aged man with depressive tendencies as a result of the poor relationship with his wife due to his long hours at work,
and the subsequent attraction towards his co-worker Jo (played by Clancy McMullan) is a hackneyed plot driver if ever there was one, and the use of a fifty-something older office worker (Bob, played by Ian Giles) as the ‘clown’ and sexually explicit, though actually inactive, pest was a poor attempt at a more introspective depiction of an unlikeable character that came all too late. Similarly, the wooden, pursed-lipped character of Patty (played by Rachel Alexander-Hill), and the disturbing attempt at provocation in the character of Pippa (played by Katy Devine) did very little for the play as a whole,and served to compound the already irritating performances of the central cast members.

The setting was equally unappealing. Without a stage, and consequently any semblance of withdrawal backstage, the convincing office set was unfortunately subjected to a distinct lack of the mystery one expects from a visit to the theatre, and caused the addition of props by the stage-hands to look unprofessional and clumsy. However, the staging was distinctly office-like, with cheap desks and wheelie chairs, dell computers and ancient cord telephones, though perhaps the sheer mass of at least thirty empty bottles of alcohol was a tad excessive.

The Office Party was clearly intended to be a comedy; failing in its aim, the characters had not nearly enough depth to be convincing, human portrayals and so the play degenerated into scene after scene of innuendo and stilted one-liners, and the occasional occurrence of a serious subject matter was handled so badly that the production became a painful experience. That said, the use of lighting to hide scene changes and of music to build tension and create a partly dynamic performance from time to time was fairly well done; still, this was not enough to hide the crude and poorly drawn characters, the amateurish acting by a cast clearly fixated not on the interaction between their characters, but on the remembrance of their own lines, and a set was too close to be professional and too miserable to be intimate. Sadly not one to be watched, or perhaps acted, again.