The sensational story of the Mitford sisters comes to Oxford Playhouse this autumn in The Party Girls. Amy Rosenthal’s new play will run at the Oxford venue from Tuesday 30 September to Saturday 4 October.

A Marlowe Theatre production, The Party Girls presents a razor-sharp look at one of Britain’s most scandalous sisterhoods, showcasing how the Mitford girls cut a glorious swathe through pre-war high society. As socialites among debutantes and dukes, their story reveals the deep divisions caused by political extremism within their own family.

Nancy aspires to be a celebrated novelist, Diana and Unity fall for the dangerous, charismatic leaders of the Far Right in Britain and Germany, and Debo sets her cap at a Duke. Meanwhile, Jessica (Decca) crosses continents in her own passionate pursuit of love – but can she ever escape her sisters and her past?

Ahead of the cast taking to The Playhouse stage next month, they visited the county to explore one of the family’s homes, the Jacobean manor house Asthall Manor, which sits amongst the Burford countryside. The manor house has stood since at least 1272, and the Mitfords resided at the property from 1919 to 1926, with both Jessica and Deborah being born there.

Jessica reflects on her childhood home in her memoir Hons and Rebels, recalling the ‘Hons cupboard’ where she and Deborah would retreat from the adult world. Nearly 100 years after the family moved from the Manor, the ‘Hons cupboard’ remains intact, as does the family’s particular shade of blue paint in the upstairs corridor.

Rosenthal lenses the play through the eyes of Jessica Mitford, who is played by Oxfordshire actor Emma Noakes in this production. Noakes trained at Oxford School of Drama and, whilst studying there, worked at Oxford Playhouse.

She now returns to the Oxford theatre alongside Kirsty Besterman as Nancy Mitford; Joe Coen as Bob Treuhaft; Elisabeth Dermot Walsh as Diana Mitford; Ell Potter as Unity Mitford, and Flora Spencer-Longhurst as Debo Mitford.

The Party Girls is directed by Richard Beecham, who read English at the University of Oxford before training as a theatre director at RADA/King’s College London. Of the production, he said:

‘I'm thrilled to be directing the world premiere of Amy Rosenthal's timely new play. Amy's brilliant portrayal of the notorious Mitford sisters explores the present through the past, uncovers the political in the personal, and finds considerable humour amongst all the horror and heartache. And she does it all with the lightest of touches.”

Alongside Beecham, the creative team includes Simon Kenny (Designer), Aideen Malone (Lighting Designer), Adrienne Quartly (Composer & Sound Designer), Dick Straker (Video Designer), Quinny Sacks (Movement Director), and Haruka Kuroda (Fight Director). The casting director is Annelie Powell CDG.