Abigail's Party

Abigail’s Party is a play for stage and television and was devised and directed in 1977 by Mike Leigh. Set in the 70’s Beverley and Lawrence have invited their new neighbours, Angela and Tony, over for drinks along with Sue, who has been invited to take refuge as she has been dis-invited from a party that her fifteen year old daughter, Abigail, is having at home. The gathering starts off in quite a stiff fashion, as the virtual strangers get to know one another, but as more and more drinks are served and the alcohol takes effect, Beverley starts to flirt with Tony and the tension soon escalates as the marital strain between Beverley and Lawrence surfaces and to add to the mix, Sue’s anxiety over Abigails’s party becomes much more apparent. As the whole evening is breaking up into disarray well, the most unimaginable event happens!

The part of Beverley was outstandingly played by Alicia Bloundele. She looked absolutely fabulous in a most sumptuous dress with an impeccable hairdo and make up which seemed so inappropriate for an evening of drinks with neighbours and even more so when they arrived in very casual 70’s style attire, but that was Beverley! Alicia magnificently captured every aspect of the characters nuances, she was overbearing, forthright, totally over-the top and with no concern whatsoever for how this affected others. She continually hen-pecked and belittled her husband and the explosive tension between them was palpable, which was further exacerbated by her sexy flirting with Tony. Constantly plying everyone with drink, her gossipy ways with Angela and her somewhat patronising attitude towards Sue were so affectively achieved and following her husbands heart attack she really lost it and her mannerisms here were just brilliant and totally outlined that all the facets she demonstrated were just surface coverings for her vulnerability and insecurities. Peter Wilmot was perfect in the role Lawrence her hard working, uptight, quite pretentious and somewhat neurotic husband and he portrayed all of these qualities superbly. He definitely liked to feel superior which was so apparent when he pointed out his collection of the collected works of Shakespeare but was more enthusiastic about the leather binding than with the contents, which he dismissed as being unreadable. He seems to have very little in common with the new neighbours but does find something in common with Sue, if only the love of fine art. As the evening progresses he stands his ground over various happenings as he tries to make his presence felt and the guests witness some very uncomfortable moments. When he is told in no uncertain terms to dance with Angela we witness a super scenario of ‘why am I dong this’ as the pair talk about holidays while dancing at arms length and then at the end, shake hands! Lawrence becomes more and more agitated and as the evening progresses the final straw comes when Beverley fetches down from the bedroom, an erotic painting. A blazing argument ensues ending with Lawrence having a fatal heart attack. What a gem of a role this proved to be for Susan Devaney as Angela. She was just great and so natural in the way she tactlessly subjected her husband to apparent ridicule, asked awkward questions of Susan and was so enamoured of Beverley as she definitely got more and more under the influence of drink. Loved her ‘disco dancing’ and although, for a nurse, she at first seemed to be quite naive she certainly came up trumps following Lawrence’s heart attack - even though it gave her cramp! Chris Gale was excellent as Tony. His monosyllabic, facial scowls and expressions, especially towards his wife, were so sublime and conveyed so much more that words would have done. He appeared to be quite laid back but did stand up to Lawrence, quite forcibly, when he was rude to his wife and who knows what happened when he went over to Sue’s house, but he did come back looking rather dishevelled!  Not a lot to ‘hang your hat on’ in this role but it was extremely well delivered. This was the case too, with the part of Sue, but Georgie Harris splendidly portrayed the quietly reserved and over anxious mother who spends the whole evening worrying about her daughter, Abigail, and what she might be getting up to, over at the party. She obviously is not happy, particularly following on from her divorce and his remarriage and although she doesn’t like Beverley’s brashness she does find Lawrence more to her liking.

The play has been at two venues so the scenery, props etc. have to be moved. This was definitely not reflected in the set, designed by Mac McKenzie, it was just very impressive. There was a suite of leather furniture, a coffee table on which were various nibbles and a wonderful cabinet holding books, records and player, numerous glasses, bottles of drink and mixer cans. There was also a ‘bean-bag’, which at some point each of the guests found this was the only available place to sit. This was a constant form of amusement and hilarity as we saw some very funny ways of actually lowering themselves into it and even funnier ways of extricating themselves from it. Plants added that extra touch and placed around, at the back, were several black flatswith strips of wallpaper down the middle - so simple, yet so innovative.

This was a truly great production with a lovely set, good lighting and costumes and made all the more so by the five excellent and extremely talented actors. Well done to them and many congratulations to Director Liz McKenzie and as she so rightly points out, in her forward in the programme, her thanks must go to Stewart and his team for, without a van and some muscle, it wouldn’t have been at all possible. My sincere thanks also, for the wonderful warm welcome I received.

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.