TV Pick of the Week: After the Party - review by Yvette Huddleston

Set in Wellington, New Zealand, at the drama’s centre is a magnificent, raw and powerful performance from Robyn Malcolm. She plays Penny Wilding, a high school science teacher who believes she saw her husband Phil (Peter Mullan), a sports teacher and basketball coach, at his birthday party sexually assault a teenage friend of their daughter’s. The boy, who was drunk at the time, swears that nothing inappropriate happened.

Following the allegations Phil went back to his native Glasgow but now, five years later, he has returned and moves in with their daughter Grace (Tara Canton) and her young son. Grace has never believed that her father did anything wrong and has an uneasy relationship with her mother as a result. She is much closer to her maternal grandmother with whom she has lived since the incident and her father’s departure for Scotland.

Phil’s return brings everything back to the surface again. There are only a handful of people who have supported Penny and who believe what she maintains she saw. In the intervening years she has attempted to convince others of her version of events, with no success. Now that Phil is back and looking for work in a local school, she is concerned that other boys may be at risk and she goes into overdrive.

The narrative structure unfolds in a complex, layered way with flashbacks to the night of the party, giving us different characters’ perspectives on the lead up to the alleged crime and the very public accusation that Penny makes in front of all the guests. As Penny replays the scene she witnessed in her mind and the stakes become ever higher – she could lose her job, her daughter and grandson – she begins to question herself. Could she have been mistaken?

The script cleverly manages to keep that hanging all the way through as Penny’s will and righteous anger are worn down. Malcolm is incredibly affecting in her portrayal of a strong, kind, principled woman who is determined to do the right thing and driven to the edge by the fact that most of her friends, colleagues, even her family, don’t – or choose not to – believe what she is saying is true.