Partying with Manson by Stephen Sewell: Stripped Back and Sharper Than Ever
A year after its initial provocation, Stephen Sewell’s Partying with Manson returns for a new season, proving that some nightmares only get sharper with time. Now haunting a larger stage at The Garden of Unearthly Delights in the Le Cascadeur venue, this “True Crime a go-go” remains a dizzying exploration of Susan Denise Atkins – the infamous “Sexy Sadie” – whose legacy is built on a shifting foundation of blood and artifice.
In a bold move for this season, the production has been stripped of its previous “bells and whistles.” The surprising scene changes and elaborate set elements are gone, leaving the delivery to rely entirely on the performer. Rather than diminishing the impact, this minimalist approach adds a raw, claustrophobic intensity to the bigger venue. Without the distraction of even minor scene changes, we are forced to look forensically close at what is real and what is fake.
Kim Hardwick’s direction remains devilishly precise, but the focus is now laser-pointed on Helen O’Connor. Returning as Susan in a definitive performance, O’Connor doesn’t just play Atkins; she weaponises her. There is an uncomfortably personal, chilling edge to this iteration, often found in the gleeful twinkle in O’Connor’s eyes as she draws the audience into her web.
Interestingly, the hum of the venue’s air conditioning requires O’Connor to be amplified – a technical necessity that she turns into a theatrical masterstroke. There is something about the disembodied weight of an amplified voice that lends her narrative a haunting level of authenticity. It places the audience in a discomfortingly compelling position, making every whispered confession feel as though it is being hissed directly into one’s ear.
In Sewell’s hands, the horror isn’t just the crime – it’s how easily we are seduced by a storyteller standing alone in the light. O’Connor’s “dancing through death” is more spellbinding than ever, leading the audience into a dangerous sense of security before the knife drops.
Running until the end of the Adelaide Fringe Festival, this evolved iteration is a mandatory appointment with a monster. Five evocative, dangerously woke stars.
Show Details
Written by: Stephen Sewell
Starring: Helen O’Connor
Directed by: Kim Hardwick
Costume Design: Karla Urizar
Venue: Le Cascadeur at The Garden of Unearthly Delights
Season: Showing until Sunday, 22 March
Rating: FIVE stars!!
For more information and tickets, visit: adelaidefringe.com.au/fringetix/partying-with-manson-af2026
