Robyn Malcolm is incredible in this morally complex drama, as a woman who believes she saw her ex-husband sexually assault a minor
drama After the Party, which is executed with a white-knuckle intensity that almost pushes it into the realm of a thriller. The show is led by an expertly layered performance from Robyn Malcolm as Penny Wilding, a high school teacher who believes she caught her ex-husband, Phil , engaged in a sex crime with an intoxicated minor during his birthday party. The easy choice would have been not to show it but, like her, we see the moment around which the show pivots.
But then I began to feel the show – co-created by Malcolm and Dianne Taylor, and directed by Peter Salmon – challenging my initial assumptions and nudging us towards the possibility that Penny is potentially an unreliable witness. After the Party isn’t really about whether she is right or wrong – although eventually it arrives at quite precise conclusions, which for me were its least interesting aspects. Far more intriguing are the dramas created by Penny’s assumptions and dogged advocacy.
I was swept away by this drama, feeling almost corporally immersed in this world. But I wondered if there was something missing from the script: an additional event from the past, for instance, that might help contextualise Penny’s perspective. On the other hand, being coy about aspects of the characters’ pasts and remaining more or less in the moment – notwithstanding intermittent flashbacks to the night in question – gives the writers another opportunity to play with us.
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