Abigail's Party

The front tabs were open before the start of the play which gave us ample opportunity to view the set at our leisure. There was a cream leather sofa centre, with matching chair right, and another 1970s style chair left. I am normally not a fan of the centrally placed sofa, but this play has limited entrances and exits, plus long periods of static dialogue, so in this case it worked well.

The 'window' through which the actors viewed and heard the party was an imaginary window on the fourth wall, and I was not entirely convinced by this. Miming of the curtain pulling and window opening was not quite 'weighty' enough, by which I mean that I did not get a sense of resistance from the window or curtains. Also, the acknowledgement of such a definite fourth wall meant that the sofa and coffee table were in an unnatural position in the room.

All entrances and exits were made through the auditorium, with actors crossing a small area of forestage and passing through the wings to get to the front door. Initially this device was entertaining, but I did find it became a little distracting as the play progressed. However, it did work well with Tony's reappearance from the party, giving him an opportunity to adjust his clothing in full view of the audience, leaving us in no doubt as to what he had been up to at the party.

The period of the play was established by the radio broadcast at the start, informing us of some of the events of 1977. Other music cues and sound effects were generally well timed and authentic. Costumes were of the period and excellent, in particular Beverly's long pink dress. By contrast, Sue's more conservative outfit suited her character beautifully, as did Angela's dress and flat shoes.  Hair and make up were also good.

Props all seemed authentic and were extremely well handled. The amount of drinks that need to be poured whilst delivering dialogue is the stuff of nightmares for an actor, but it was faultless here.  The cigarette smoking was also well performed (and how nice it was to see 'real' cigarettes and lighters used).

Because this script was written for specific actors (Alison Stedman et al) after their own improvisation, it is very difficult to try to move the characters away from the original portrayal, as the rhythm and style of the dialogue does not allow it. So whilst the characters in the play are inevitably similar in every production, it is to the credit of the actors here that they managed to keep this production feeling fresh throughout. Indeed, their ensemble work was excellent, creating believable relationships and each providing us with real characters rather than the caricatures they could so easily have become. This is a very static play, particularly in Act 1 when there is a long period of time when the actors simply sit and talk, but the dialogue was delivered at a good pace and with real conviction and I was delighted that the Director had resisted the temptation to add unnecessary moves, leaving us free to enjoy the clever dialogue without distraction. This contrasted nicely with the final, almost farcical, frantic scene of the play, when Laurence met his untimely end centre stage with chaos all around him.

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