Pride and Prejudice meets Something About Mary and Fawlty Towers

At a large New Year's Gala, a fired kitchen staff dumps a bag of hallucinogens in the party punch bowl, spinning the party out of control, nightmares, bad habits and hopes galore. The 'history' behind the host and her nemesis is revealed.... a history that was the best kept secret until today. (Set basically in one location, the party, so budget can be low)

SYNOPSIS:

Tonight is the most important and the most loathful event of her life for PATRICIA KENSINGTON, a widowed tycoon. It is the New Year’s Gala celebrating the merger of her Kensington Bank and De Boucher Trust owned by ALAN DE BOUCHER, a well known playboy and divorcee. She hates him - with a passion, but her mother, CLARISE, the matriarch, insists on this merger and she can’t say no. Everybody who is anybody, including Alan and his children and her mother, Clarise, will be at the gala, and she must keep her cool.

Alan infuriates her from the get go, and they exchange harsh words - diplomatically. She loses it when her only daughter, BROOKE, gets close to Alan’s son, LEO and fires a kitchen staff. Before he leaves, the staff drops a bagful of drugs into the party punch. The gala spirals out of control as everybody gets drunk and starts to hallucinate revealing nightmares, bad habits and hopes. Patricia accuses Alan of sending her a lewd text and people wonder why. Alan asks Patricia for a dance and as they do, she relives their history together at Kensington’s New Year’s Gala 30 years ago.

MARIA, a loyal nanny and personal assistant to both Clarise and Patricia, is privy to the best kept secret behind Alan and Patricia. Seeing Patricia run out of the party into the snow distraught just like she did 30 years ago, triggers this memory in Maria. When she snaps out of her memory lane, she discovers that she has spilled it all. But this is all planned - the history, the event, the unveiling. Who is laughing now?