Luke Evans dark new series The Party dives headfirst into the masophere to tackle the masculinity crisis
Evans stars in 'The Party' which takes a sobering look at the ramifications of repressing your true self.
Mark
We’re in a masculinity crisis. Need some proof? Just turn on the TV.
Yes, it’s all over the news, as toxic manosphere bravado has boiled up into the highest positions of power, but it’s in our scripted television, too.
Earlier this year, Baby Reindeer’s Richard Gadd followed up his breakout hit with Half Man, a grim tale of brotherhood with a particular eye on the impact of internalized homophobia. Then there’s the tension-filled Tip Toe from Queer As Folk‘s Russell T Davies (airing now in the U.S. via Starz) which sees Alan Cumming as an openly queer man at odds with his more traditional, blue-collar neighbor.
And this past week, The Party ended its run in equally brutal fashion, highlighting the depths men will go to in order to protect their own egos. In fact, these series collectively are quite the trilogy of terrors—possibly more horrifying than anything else you’ll watch this Halloween season—as they examine the explosive intersection of queerness and toxic masculinity.
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The Party, in particular, is a sobering exploration of the consequences of repression, highlighting the ways in which burying parts of ourselves can curdle into anger and brutality.
***CAUTION: Some spoilers ahead for The Party.***
Based on a book of the same name from author Elizabeth Day, the five-part ITV miniseries begins like so many shows do these days: the end (see also: the aforementioned Half Man and Tip Toe), with a man named Martin Gilmour (Luke Evans), a working-class journalist being interrogated about a yet-to-be-revealed crime.
The crux of the story is—what else?—a party. Particularly, an extravagant 40th birthday bash for wealthy politician Ben Fitzmaurice (Weekend’s Tom Cullen) who has eyes on becoming the head of the U.K.’s conservative party.
We gradually begin to understand that Ben and Martin were childhood friends, but the answers to why they became estranged, why Martin still insisted to come to the party, and what goes down that’ll lead to him being picked up by police will all be revealed across The Party‘s gripping five-episode arc.
Through flashbacks even further into the past, we see how the two first met when a teenaged Martin earned a scholarship that allowed him to attend Ben’s elite boarding school. In their youth, the two developed an intimate friendship that eventually turned into a romance, though one they were certain they needed to keep a secret.
But then came a fateful night, a tragic accident that cost a life. Ben was at fault, but Martin eventually took the blame, partially out of undying devotion to his friend and partially because Ben’s powerful father coerced him, promising financial payouts to keep him silent.
It was the moment that broke them, sending the friends down very different paths in life, both denying the deeper feelings they once had for each other—Ben so much so that he became a how powered lawmaker working against the LGBTQ+ community and running on a campaign to end “bloody wokeness.”
The Party is a fascinatingly complex dual character study, one that showcases some of the best work of Tom Cullen’s (who can so be scene in the Joe Locke-starring age-gap drama Black Church Bay) and Luke Evans’ careers.
It felt like a particularly personal role for Evans who executive produces the series and recently shared with Variety that he can deeply relate to Martin as a gay man from a working-class, religious background, so he’s well aware of what it feels like to be an outsider among certain parts of society.
Given that The Party is part of a growing trend of TV dramas like Half Man and Tip Toe that tackle homophobia and male relationships, the star also got candid about the current state of LGBTQ+ equality:
“I feel that we have progressed in the United Kingdom very far when it comes to equality and it comes to being yourself and an acceptance of each and every one of us. But it’s not by a long shot safe,” Evans reflects. “What we have right now is not safe. You only have to look at the politics, and you have to look at the parties, and some of them, what they’re saying, it’s scary.”
He continues: “And I think those kinds of whispers of threat to your life and your existence and your authenticity and your identity can suppress people and can make people hide away, and I do think people do. In my industry I know for a fact that happens. I couldn’t because I was already an openly happy gay man before my movie career began, and so I knew it would become a public knowledge/gossip column idea for a period of my career because I knew people would find out and there was nothing I could do about it and I had to accept it.”
In that sense, The Party is definitely a show of and for this very moment. And with a sequel novel called One Of Us recently hitting bookshelves, that also leaves room for Evans & Co. to explore these themes even further in a second season.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves a bit: The Party only just wrapped up its run on ITV this past week, and now all five episodes are available to stream in the U.K. via their ITVX platform. There’s no word yet on if & when we can watch it in the U.S., though there’s not doubt it’ll resonate with audiences here, too, so let’s hope that happens soon!
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