Abigail's Party

Abigail’s Party is, I should think, a very British play, a cameo of aspirational middle-class citizens, people wishing to move up the social ladder. It is one of a whole series of fabulous plays running on TV throughout the 60s and 70s, the Wednesday Play, Armchair Theatre, Play for Today and so on. What a pity we don’t see their like today, (although Channel 5 are evidently going to revive Play for Today shortly). That post-war generation aimed to own a nice home, have lots of modern household items, nice furniture, whacky gadgets, nice cars, foreign holidays. There was a lot of ‘keeping up with the Joneses’ and trying to impress. This in its turn, caused a fair bit of stress, one was always concerned with ‘what the neighbours would think’. Lots of this, of course, was cringe-making, especially for the children of these generations. Further examples of this, of course, can be found in sit-coms, for example Margo Leadbetter in the Good Life and Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances. There was a lot of cringing going on!

Mike Leigh, of course, caught this absolutely in this 1977 play, first produced for the theatre, then as one of the most successful of the Play for Today series. So did the Ewhurst Players version achieve the cringe factor? Oh yes it did! It certainly achieved its mission on that score, and the talented cast also had us roaring with laughter.

Alone the wonderful set made us chuckle, and also, for many of us, wallow in nostalgia. The bold geometrical-patterned orange wallpaper; orange curtains; orange/red and maybe yellow or black patterned rug; the bead curtain leading to the kitchen; the teak G-Plan wall of shelves and cupboards (how many of our parents/grandparents had those?). There were prints by Lowry and Van Gogh on the walls (they probably came from that shop called Athena). There was a lava lamp, and a bright pink GPO Trim phone, very sleek, the latest thing at the time. 1970s music played as we feasted our eyes on the set.

Then Beverly appeared, all dressed up in a long turquoise floaty dress in some shiny material. She looked a million dollars; she wore her hair up and a lot of bright blue eyeshadow. She was preparing for the arrival of her guests for drinks, and of course she had prepared some snacks – cheese and pineapple on cocktail sticks were among them naturally. She smoked long slim cigarettes very elegantly that she kept in a wooden box on the coffee table, and lit them with one of those table lighters so many people had.

Laurence, her successful but stressed businessman husband, was at her beck and call, fetching drinks, cigarettes and so on as they prepared for their guests, whilst at the same time constantly under work pressure with constant phone calls, much to Beverly’s annoyance. He wore a brown 1970s suit with a kipper tie. He needed urgently to go out, but not before Beverly had got him to pour drinks for the guests. And then he had to remember to bring back some beer. Poor fellow was dashing about all over the place, whilst she was serenely sitting on the sofa smoking. Simon Fraser made this frenzied role his own, and was hilarious.

Angela and Tony, the new people just moved onto the estate, arrived. Bev immediately rechristened them Ange and Tone. She flirted outrageously with Tone, who always looked like a frightened chicken, whilst Ange looked on. Bev aimed to impress Ange with her lovely house. Ange, admiring but slightly nervous about whether she would live up to the estate’s standards, chatted nervously.

Claire Williams made the perfect Beverly, with an amazing accent she kept up throughout, and an astonishing ability to make Laurence run around after her, and her guests feel bemused, embarrassed, and suspicious they’re being looked down upon. She wafted about in her dress, cigarette and glass in hand. Marvellous!

Grant Smith was a great Tone, quiet, nervous, obviously feeling so out of place, longing to go home, the target of Bev’s flirtatious invitation to dance. He looked super in his flares and long black curly wig, with a fine bushy black beard (that is his own). Very 1970s!

Tor House played Angela very well too, not sure how to take Bev, but wanting to be liked and fit in. She also had a marvellous accent, a bit like Sybil Fawlty’s. They were a young couple, it was their first house.

Enter poor Sue, the mother of Abigail, the teenager having the party next door, bearing a bottle of Beaujolais. ‘I’ll just pop that in the fridge.’said Bev. She was pleased to be able to leave the house while her daughter had her party, and felt quite confident that all would be well. Until, that is, Bev started winding her up with all kinds of teenage party horror stories , when she became more and more nervous, obviously. Bev insisted the two men go and check all was okay. Tone couldn’t wait to go (and escape the alarming Beverly), and indeed took quite a time to return, whilst Laurence whizzed there and back, embarrassed at being sent, but powerless to defy Bev, even though Sue didn’t think it necessary to go.

Bev plied everyone with drinks and cigarettes, Sue was too polite to insist on saying no, took the line of least resistance, with disastrous results, and had to make a rapid trip to the bathroom. A good performance from Jay Garland, we really felt for her, she was not the sort of person who would in normal circumstances spend much time with Bev. Bev brought up the subject of Sue’s divorce, and generally asked far too many searching questions. Oh dear, it was at times excruciating to watch! But so funny too. ‘We were all getting married when you were getting divorced’. In this play, one spent a lot of time watching people’s facial expressions and body language. These were marvellous, of course.

Dear Laurence tried to raise the tone of the evening with classy music and discussion of art, only to be squashed by Bev, who insisted he put Demis Roussos on.

At the end, of course, Ange comes into her own, as a nurse, when Laurence collapses and Bev goes to pieces.

Amanda Jones had found a great cast to interpret this classic, and directed with excellent pace. The team brought out all the humour of the piece, and delighted us all with their attention to detail with the set, props and costumes. Their ability to make us squirm was first class!

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