A (familiar) vision of our political future

Find out who REALLY runs the country from May 14-18 at the Theatre Royal Windsor.

Party Games!, a very funny, hard-hitting, joyous political comedy is written by Westminster insider, Michael McManus, a former special government adviser. Audiences can expect an insightful take on the future of politics with a generous, juicy dollop of the present thrown in.

Featuring a sensational cast: Matthew Cottle (Edward in The Windsors, Game On, and Stan Laurel in the film Chaplin);Debra Stephenson (Shell Dockley in Bad Girls; The Impressions Show and Dead Ringers); Ryan Early (Darren Vance in Coronation Street, The Archers);Krissi Bohn (Jenna Kamara in Coronation Street); Jason Callender (Upstart Crow and The Play That Goes Wrong, West End); Natalie Dunne (Anna Schmidt in The Third Man, Menier Chocolate Factory) and William Oxborrow (The Madness of George III, National Theatre and the title role in The Picture of Dorian Gray at the Gate Theatre, Dublin).

Party Games! will be directed by Joanna Read, director and chief executive of the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, which has produced the play in-house.

Party Games! sees Joanna reunited with Michael, who she last collaborated with on his smash hit radio theatre play, Maggie & Ted.

Set in the UK in 2026. John Waggner (Matthew Cottle), 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 (Ryan Early), 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?

Michael’s latest creation follows hot on the heels of Maggie & Ted, his widely acclaimed, award-nominated radio play described by Gyles Brandreth as ‘funny, touching, and true’.

Maggie & Ted opened at the White Bear Theatre in October 2019, had a short run in the West End in June 2021 and then, in October of that year, went to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre in a new production, directed by Joanna Read.