The Cocktail Party is a drama concerning a married couple where the characters Edward and Lavinia Chamberlayne are separating after five years of their marriage. The opening and closing acts of the play feature cocktail parties hosted by the main characters. And, these Cocktail Parties serves as the setting where their marital problems are intensified by the pressure of having to keep up social appearances and abiding social customs. It is a part satirical and part philosophical query on the traditional British drawing-room comedy and the nature of human relations respectively. The play also uses elements that perform on humour to raise audiences’ awareness of the isolation one feels in and outside social institutions like marriage and friendships.

Hence, the title The Cocktail Party