The Space Triplex - Jenner Theatre. 4:50pm
New Celts Productions and F-Bomb Theatre
What starts as a girls’ night out after A-levels ends with a prank that gets taken far beyond a harmless drunken mistake. The show starts to the familiar cheesiness of Justin Bieber’s ‘Baby’, but the story of these five friends takes a turn for the worse as they end up, about a month later, picking up trash on community service.
"I felt like I could see my own friends in these characters, such was their dynamism and complexity."
I was surprisingly moved by this performance and the overall standard of acting was high, with no obvious weak link. The cast invested bravely in some pretty heavy material with each character armed with a backstory that could have been a play in its own right. I felt like I could see my own friends in these characters, such was their dynamism and complexity.
(Afterparty - New Celts Productions and F-Bomb Theatre)
A last-minute plot twist felt slightly out of place, however, and I was left trying to figure out whether this was a play about friendship or a whodunit. The writing did not build us up to anticipate that a mystery was in need of solving so it came across like a bit of an afterthought rather than a central part of the plot. However, this did not detract from the heart-warming conclusion of the performance nor from my emotional engagement with the characters.
"A life-affirming and meaningful story."
Afterparty reaffirms the all-important fact that everyone is always going through something that they’re not telling everyone about, even, and especially, when it’s not clear on the surface. Furthermore, it breaches the topic of how individuals can, through no fault of their own, find themselves incapacitated and trapped by their own background and circumstance. It is a life-affirming and meaningful story and well worth the watch.