Abigail's Party

It was a pleasure to have once again returned to the intimate OSO Arts Centre and enjoy Abigail’s Party - a satire on the 1970’s aspirations and tastes of the British middle class. This is a challenging play to perform and one that’s heavily dependent on a strong cast. I have seen it staged several times and the results have been quite varied. Thankfully, BCP’s version was both of a very high standard and most entertaining. 

This is also a play where so much of the action and dialogue is delivered from a static, mostly seated position. Whilst the central character of Beverly is continually running around topping up drinks and forcing plates of nibbles on her quests, there are long periods where the audience is relying on cast reaction, body language and subtle movement to follow the plot and understand the jokes.

Beverly and her estate agent husband, Laurence, invite their new neighbours, ex-professional footballer and now computer operator, Tony and his wife Angela, a rather unintelligent and tactless nurse round for a drinks party. They also invite another neighbour, recently divorced Susan, whose 15 year old daughter, Abigail (who is never seen) is holding her first teenage party back at Susan’s house. Beverly is a domineering, very sensual character who won’t take no for an answer and soon has her guests plied with far too much alcohol and events lead to an unexpected conclusion…

Terry Oakes is to be congratulated as Director and also for designing such a realistic, set. As I’ve already mentioned above, this is a challenging play and one that requires a strong cast. This was most certainly achieved and there had obviously been much hard work completed throughout rehearsals which, I’m sure, were most enjoyable.

The set (a sitting room in a middle class home) deserves special mention. From the lava lamp, fibre optic light and Elvis Presley ornament to the drinks trolley and cheese and pineapple hedgehog the set simply screamed of the 1970’s. The attention to detail was most impressive and certainly left no doubt as to the time period.

Congratulations once again to everyone involved with Abigail’s Party and thanks for inviting me along to this production.

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