First look rehearsal images are released for the new play PARTY GAMES! by Michael McManus, directed by Joanna Read and produced by the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford.
PARTY GAMES! is set in the UK in 2026. John Waggner, newly elected leader of the hastily formed centrist One Nation Party, presides over a hung parliament, a discontented electorate and striking cheesemakers. He and his power-hungry MPs must cling onto authority through whatever shaky means possible. Can one man, a Svengali spin doctor, and some dodgy data unite the country?  And what role can his wife, the King and a large spider play in keeping the lights on, not to mention his trusty AI?
The production stars Matthew Cottle as Prime Minister John Waggner, Debra Stephenson as Deputy Leader Lisa Williams, Ryan Early as spin doctor Seth Dickens, Natalie Dunne as Anne Waggner, the Prime Minister’s wife, Krissi Bohn as Private Secretary Candice Edwards, Jason Callender as would-be Chief of Staff Luke Roberts and William Oxborrow playing multiple roles.
PARTY GAMES! is written by a man who was on the inside of party politics, Michael McManus, who worked in Central Office while Margaret Thatcher and John Major were Prime Ministers and as a special adviser to a number of UK ministers between 1992 and 1995. He was then head of Ted Heath’s private office from 1995 to 2000 and the Conservative Party candidate for Watford in 2001.
The tour runs from 2 to 11 May at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre Guildford, then the Theatre Royal Windsor, New Theatre Cardiff, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Worthing Connaught Theatre, Theatre Royal Bath,  finishing at Malvern Festival Theatre from 25 to 29 June.
