Henrietta has planned her seventeenth birthday party so it will occur before her father, Richard, comes back from rehab - she is very ashamed of his alcoholism. But he returns on the day of the party.

Henrietta telephones all her friends to put them off but there is one guest, a young man she is fond of, she has not been able to reach. He is Soya and he was sitting an examination (which he fails). He turns up late in the evening and finds only Richard at home. The two find that they have something in common. Neither can live up to Henrietta's high ideals.

The Party is a play by the British dramatist, actor and director Jane Arden which was first staged at the New Theatre, London on 28 May 1958. The production ran for six months and has been performed in reperatory since. 

Premiere Production: New Theatre, London on 28 May 1958