Before The Party’s telling story of family life and class system

It was Somerset Maugham who first came up with the idea – a somewhat dysfunctional family coping with a daughter rebelling against the social hierarchy they inhabit.

Before The Party is a short story but very telling in the 1920s.

Rodney Ackland then revived and lengthened it, adding a fiancé and a nanny, and setting it in the post-war austerity of 1949.

The thorny subject of class, of course, never dilutes and is always open for such ridicule as presented in this jolly wheeze of a production at Pitlochry Festival Theatre.

The Skinners are preparing to attend a garden party, shocked at their widowed daughter Laura’s seemingly leisurely approach to bereavement.

But all is not as it seems, and, thanks to Laura’s bitter and twisted sister Kathleen, the truth will out – or are there further revelations?

At the heart of all this is a satirical prod at the amazing hypocrisy of the class system.

In this age of enlightenment, this could all fall a bit flat, but under the direction of Gemma Fairlie and an excellent septet from the current company, they give this bland Party drink a taste of Champagne.

Costumes and set (thumbs-up to designer Amanda Stoodley) are steeped in 1940s chic, with innovative see-through “wallpaper” to catch some stylized exterior goings-on. Why the author sets it all in Laura’s bedroom is a bit puzzling – just doesn’t seem “proper”.

Kirsty McDuff (Laura) and Niamh Bracken (Kathleen) make the most of the contrasting sisters.

Ms Bracken is also Velma in Chicago – an amazing contrast.

Deirdre Davis is mum Blanche, ever the matriarch but never the ability to make a decision, with Mark Elstob as dad Aubrey, who sees his Tory candidature evaporating as his family’s skeletons emerge.

The wordly-wise youngest sister is given an endearing quality by Fiona Wood with Isaac Stanmore (Laura’s mysterious beau David) and Irene-Myrtle Forrester as the nanny completing the line-up.

Before The Party is now the fifth production on offer at Pitlochry and continues on various dates until October 11.