ABIGAIL'S PARTY. To 5 April.
London
ABIGAIL'S PARTY
by Mike Leigh
New Ambassadors Theatre To 5 April 2003
Mon-Sat 7.45pm Mat Thu & Sat 3pm
Runs 2hr 5min One interval
TICKETS 020 7369 1761
www.newambassadors.com
Review Timothy Ramsden 9 December
The horrors of tasteless affluence move wild laughter in the throat of death.
Beverly's back. The monstrous hostess whose shallow tastelessness blasts through every nasal platitude (and however cosmic the subject, it dwindles instantly to platitudes in this living-room), who makes estate agent husband Laurence with his smart-bound, unread Dickens and Shakespeare look cultured, whose idea of hospitality is to rule the roost, has returned on her 25th anniversary. There's a raw edge, looking back. Beverly and her friends would soon be marching into the polling booths to bring the equally sharp-tongued narrowness of Thatcherism to power.
Alison Steadman's creation is now embodied by Elizabeth Berrington, tall, lithe and ready to lunge with dictatorial finger outstretched, and a voice switching from monotonously bright chime - its final cadences echoing away into the air - to a hard, irresistible command as she bears down on the easily patronised Angela or her embarrassed neighbour Sue. It takes time to adjust; nowadays such over-the-top characterisations are stock-in-trade of short comic routines; Beverly's around all evening.
Yet Berrington's Beverly is also the stuff of nightmares. All the funnier because she fails to see the nightmare under her nose, exposing unawares the marriage she and Laurence endure. And when the pressure finally gets him, she squeals possessively as if one of her fashion-accessory lamps had smashed to the floor.
The other marriage is as sterile. Steffan Rhodri's laconic Tony clamps in his fury as someone who gave up the prospects of becoming a professional footballer for this settled security. And there's an ace performance from Rosie Cavaliero as his wife, whose nursing skills finally come into their own but whose anxieties have shown as her face swivels between a hopeful smile to the rest of the world and darker concern when glancing at her husband.
Wendy Nottingham's Sue is unsurprisingly overwhelmed by this: preoccupied by her 15 year old punk daughter Abigail's party back home down the road, while wondering what sort of hell she's landed in for the evening as Beverly stuffs her full of drink, nibbles and unrelenting chatter: all round junk, accepted out of politeness. Director David Grindley handles the ghastly proceedings with great expertise.
Beverly: Elizabeth Berrington
Laurence: Jeremy Swift
Angela: Rosie Cavaliero
Tony: Steffan Rhodri
Susan: Wendy Nottingham
Director: David Grindley
Designer: Jonathan Fensom
Lighting: Jason Taylor
Sound: Gregory Clarke
2002-12-16 13:00:57