It's Nana's 79th birthday and she's to spend the afternoon with her whole family. But events take an unexpected turn.It's Nana's 79th birthday and she's to spend the afternoon with her whole family. But events take an unexpected turn.It's Nana's 79th birthday and she's to spend the afternoon with her whole family. But events take an unexpected turn.
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaPat's (Reece Shearsmith) joke about being a werewolf is a line directly from Naked (1993), in which Claire Skinner (Angela) plays a secondary character.
Featured review
After a couple of more novel outings in this second series, Messrs Pemberton and Shearsmith go in a more routine direction with Nana's Party, a story which had potential but sadly fails to quite hit the mark.
Similar to last series Last Gasp in that It's setting being a middle class suburban setting. The story revolves around two chalk n cheese, middle aged sisters Angela (Claire Skinner of Outnumbered fame) and Carol (Lorraine Ashbourne) who with their respective spouses and the former siblings 14 year old daughter Katie, (Evie Gordon) throw a birthday party for their 79 year old mother Nana (Elsie Kelly). So far so ordinary, until we learn that Angela's prankster husband Jim (Steve Pemberton) plans on playing a practical joke on Carol's dull other half Pat, by hiding his wife under Nana's cake. What follows is a tumultuous day with high emotions coming to the fore and hidden secrets being revealed. One which will culminate in a party that will be life changing to say the least.
Overall there's nothing particularly outstanding in terms of innovation in with Nana's Party, which at least given the curious opening has initial promise. With it's seemingly cozy, humdrum setting there's the hope for something dark and sinister to crawl up beneath the mundane veneer. Needless to say there are some sublime comedic creations in among the dysfunctional family with Pemberton and Shearsmith both on reliably top form. Both being complimented by formidable supporting guest players who include Claire Skinner, an actress on marvellously prissy form portraying Angela who it appears has borderline OCD. She is sharply contrasted by Lorraine Ashbourne as her more extrovert, carefree lush sister Carol. An early indicator of the friction that is to come. Rounding off the cast are potential young up and comer Eve Gordon as the youngest member of the family, ably matched by a delightfully endearingly oblivious and eccentric turn by Elsie Kelly as the titular Nana of the story.
It's to both co-writers and stars credit that they maintain a steady even pace as events unfold with the requisite sense of foreboding permeating the majority of the tale. However it all culminates in a final coda that leaves you with a sense of "so what" rather than "Wow! Didn't see that coming". It's all really a bit anti- climatic with none of the bite and twisted viciousness we've come to expect from the pairing. The scenes involving An inebriated Carol's imparting of worldly wisdom to her teenage niece before her embarrassing flirtatiousness do indeed raise a grin, as does the two brothers in laws secretive talks regarding a certain video tape which ironically is revealed be the worst of their problems. With Nana's sweet doddery naivety, largely with her granddaughter being an added source of wonderful amusement.
An oddity and a bit misjudged rather than being awful it's an offering that might have worked better as a short one-off play, it's ultimately an out of place(all be it entertaining) segment which feels like mere filler than anything else. I wouldn't give it a miss but it owes more to Abigail's party than say Blue Velvet or American Beauty.
Similar to last series Last Gasp in that It's setting being a middle class suburban setting. The story revolves around two chalk n cheese, middle aged sisters Angela (Claire Skinner of Outnumbered fame) and Carol (Lorraine Ashbourne) who with their respective spouses and the former siblings 14 year old daughter Katie, (Evie Gordon) throw a birthday party for their 79 year old mother Nana (Elsie Kelly). So far so ordinary, until we learn that Angela's prankster husband Jim (Steve Pemberton) plans on playing a practical joke on Carol's dull other half Pat, by hiding his wife under Nana's cake. What follows is a tumultuous day with high emotions coming to the fore and hidden secrets being revealed. One which will culminate in a party that will be life changing to say the least.
Overall there's nothing particularly outstanding in terms of innovation in with Nana's Party, which at least given the curious opening has initial promise. With it's seemingly cozy, humdrum setting there's the hope for something dark and sinister to crawl up beneath the mundane veneer. Needless to say there are some sublime comedic creations in among the dysfunctional family with Pemberton and Shearsmith both on reliably top form. Both being complimented by formidable supporting guest players who include Claire Skinner, an actress on marvellously prissy form portraying Angela who it appears has borderline OCD. She is sharply contrasted by Lorraine Ashbourne as her more extrovert, carefree lush sister Carol. An early indicator of the friction that is to come. Rounding off the cast are potential young up and comer Eve Gordon as the youngest member of the family, ably matched by a delightfully endearingly oblivious and eccentric turn by Elsie Kelly as the titular Nana of the story.
It's to both co-writers and stars credit that they maintain a steady even pace as events unfold with the requisite sense of foreboding permeating the majority of the tale. However it all culminates in a final coda that leaves you with a sense of "so what" rather than "Wow! Didn't see that coming". It's all really a bit anti- climatic with none of the bite and twisted viciousness we've come to expect from the pairing. The scenes involving An inebriated Carol's imparting of worldly wisdom to her teenage niece before her embarrassing flirtatiousness do indeed raise a grin, as does the two brothers in laws secretive talks regarding a certain video tape which ironically is revealed be the worst of their problems. With Nana's sweet doddery naivety, largely with her granddaughter being an added source of wonderful amusement.
An oddity and a bit misjudged rather than being awful it's an offering that might have worked better as a short one-off play, it's ultimately an out of place(all be it entertaining) segment which feels like mere filler than anything else. I wouldn't give it a miss but it owes more to Abigail's party than say Blue Velvet or American Beauty.
- The-Last-Prydonian
- Apr 24, 2015
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