Iwant to leave before something terrible happens, says a guest at a party that has been fraught with intrigue, tension and nastiness. Her host responds, the best time to leave a party is after something terrible has happened and the police have arrived.

The evening is indeed long and portentous. Mean things are said and done. People behave honestly and therefore badly. The threat of a cataclysmic event swirls around as easily as alcohol. It’s all a game for the host Hedda (Tessa Thompson), who moves between tables and rooms with a surefootedness that conceals her nervousness.

Hedda has invited people over to her new house in the countryside, a hulking mansion that she and her academic husband George (Tom Bateman) can ill-afford. Hedda plans to extract the full price of her social climbin

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