Principal photography on short film Our Party from writer-director Joshua Prendeville has wrapped in New Zealand. The film is a modern adaptation of the celebrated Katherine Mansfield short story The Garden Party (1922). It follows 18-year-old Laura as she prepares her opulent home for a party when news of a neighbourhood tragedy forces her to confront a reality from which she has been sheltered from in her privileged life.
The lead role of Laura is played by Davida McKenzie (Klara and the Sun, The Speedway Murders) whose real-life sister Thomasin McKenzie (Joy, Last Night In Soho, Jojo Rabbit, Leave No Trace) plays her on-screen sibling in the film. The Wellington siblings are joined in the cast by Michael Hurst, Alison Bruce and Theo Shakes. Writer-director Prendeville is a New Zealander known for The House Within (2024), a documentary on writer Dame Fiona Kidman, which will be released theatrically in 2025.
The Post caught up with the McKenzie sisters after filming on Our Party wrapped …
Hi Thomasin! What was it like playing the older sister in Our Party to Davida, your real-life sister? Did your sibling dynamic influence how you approached the role?
TM: Yes definitely! The sister bond is such an intense one. You love each other yet you can fight like cats because you are so close. I am six years older than Davida and so I helped to bring her up and care for her. But now it feels like we are much more of the same age … I think this gave us more courage in being able to challenge each other as characters in Our Party, which really reflects the sibling bond and conflict in the original story.
How does playing a character in a modern adaptation of a classic like The Garden Party compare to some of your other roles?
TM: There are so many Mansfield stories from this time in her life, growing up in Days Bay and Karori and then becoming a teenager in Thorndon and longing to leave New Zealand. All these stories feed into our interpretation of these roles, because they all represent different parts of Mansfield’s life. It’s a rich research base. So I think this relied less on actors’ imagination and more on plunging into the reality of Mansfield’s life, as there was so much to draw from.
The film touches on themes of privilege, reality and coming-of-age. Was there a specific moment made you reflect on your own perspective about privilege or growing up?
TM: Oh yes of course. The conversation on the stairs between Davida as Laura and me as Meg was an eye-opener. There is a big difference between being 18, just graduated from school, like Davida, and being 24, living an independent life in London, like I do. The difference between idealism and reality was so stark for us in that scene.
We both went to Marsden School in Karori in Wellington, which is where Mansfield also went. So we really felt that these characters were very close to us, whether they had been set in the 1920s or as they are in Joshua’s film, in 2025.
Hi Davida! You play Laura in Our Party, a character forced to confront a tragedy while planning a lavish event. What challenges did you face in portraying someone caught between the privilege of her world and the harsh reality outside it?
DM: Well right now with such crazy events in the world yet also celebrating my graduation from school with the leaver’s ball and all the crazy preparation for moving to London … it’s hard to ignore the contrast between tragedy and privilege. This story was on point in 1922 and still resonates today.
Having worked on projects like Klara and the Sun and The Speedway Murders, how did your experience in those roles inform your portrayal of Laura?
DM: I guess the other films I have been in have been dystopian or futuristic or set in the past, ever since Silent Night. Our Party is set right now. We shot in a real house, not on a set, and this made it seem all the more real, as though there was no acting required.
How did it feel to work so closely with Thomasin?
DM: I loved playing this role opposite Tom. My favourite moment was when they cranked the music up really loud and we just had to dance and have fun. That was really a blast. Dancing with Tom and Michael Hurst and Alison Bruce who played our dad and mum, was just like real life. In fact only the week before I was at my graduation ball and danced with my own dad and mum in exactly the same way. This film was perfect timing. Everything that Laura was experiencing with leaving school, I had just experienced too.