ABIGAIL'S PARTY. To 23 July.

York

ABIGAIL'S PARTY
by Mike Leigh

Theatre Royal To 23 July 2005
Tue-Sat 7.30pm
Runs 2hr 10min One interval

TICKETS: 01904 623568
www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 16 July

The suburban home as torture-chamber, rising to a fine climax of confusion.It's 1977, yet no-one would expect punk to rear its self-shaved ugly head in the ghastly-bad-taste living-room where estate-agent's wife Beverly queens it over the neighbours (after the horror-weekend at the Bliss's in York's recent Hay Fever the Royal seems to be on a one-theatre campaign to prove that if there is such a thing as society then that's a tragedy of modern life). Sure enough, as the intro-music fades Beverly puts something far more polite on the turntable. This comedy, though, goes pretty sour; act one ends with a vomiting guest, act two includes a fatal heart-attack.

Mike Leigh's portrait of arriviste bad manners (originally made for Hampstead Theatre) has had numerous casts other than the one which devised the five characters through improvisations. This origin could be why the more voluble characters, especially, have their creators' images printed on the performances. Alison Steadman created front-room social lioness Beverly. Many subsequent Steadman portrayal have had a tinge of Beverly, while all other Beverly's I've seen have been Steadman caricatures to the life. The voice, articulation, gestures; either everyone's seen the video or these things are embedded in the dialogue.

Sara Poyzer does a good Steadman but is sufficiently her own person to make her Beverly live. In line with Marcus Romer's production, which moves from the ordered (often female) line-up in the first act to the confusion of the second, Poyzer's gloss runs off her manner until she's claiming priority in dealing with her dying husband. She may have a qualified nurse present, but he's her husband, and property is all to Beverly.

On Emma Donovan's garish set, veering to an upstage domestic bar, it's clear accumulating Sunday Supplement tat is Beverly's substitute for life. Helen Goldwyn's hanger-on, Ange, is in creator Janine Duvitski's bespectacled mould, but she plays too uni-dimensionally over 2 hours, while Beatrice Commins retains Sue's polite, reticent detachment.

John Kirk's silence might hold anything or very little for Tony while Andonis Anthony offers the most revisionist' performance, giving Lawrence a clearly-driven fury from the start. A production that grows as Beverly's evening wears on.

Beverly: Sara Poyzer
Laurence: Andonis Anthony
Angela: Helen Goldwyn
Tony: John Kirk
Sue: Beatrice Commins

Director: Marcus Romer
Designer: Emma Donovan
Lighting: James Farncombe

2005-07-19 07:06:34