Review: Party Ghost

You’d think it would be relatively hard to find a connection between Adele, Rimsky-Korsakov and Stanley Kubrik. And yet in Party Ghost, all three are integral to the shenanigans that play out over the course of an hour. The show is a chaotic merging of a creepy birthday party, an unhinged funeral, purgatory and the circus, with some witty nods to slasher flicks and pop culture scattered throughout. 

Performers Olivia Porter and Jarred Dewey are captivating in their portrayal of weird sisters and ghostly twins, running around in slapstick fashion, draped in comically simple white sheets with eye holes. At first, we’re introduced to a veiled, widowed figure (Dewey), who sobs as the audience file in, handing out cucumber sandwiches on a silver platter. As Dewey hoists himself up onto the trapeze via a noose around his neck, performing an impressive aerial routine in sky high heels, the gloriously absurd and macabre tone is immediately set.

From here, the duo pack in dance, burlesque, lip syncing, a balloon animal, an effortlessly cool juggling sequence and, as is customary at any successful birthday party, pass the parcel. Beyond the clowning, inventive choreography and relentless display of skill though, Party Ghost is pure silliness and gothic bedlam – perfect for any and all purveyors of the spooky.