ABIGAIL'S PARTY. To 7 June.
Tour.
ABIGAIL'S PARTY
by Mike Leigh.
London Classic Theatre Company tour to 7 June 2008.
Runs 2hr 20min One interval.
Review: Jan Pick 26 March at Belgrade Theatre Coventry.
A Tale of Two Parties.
Abigail’s Party, the famous and much-loved play by Mike Leigh, is given a loving revival by director Michael Cabot and the London Classic Theatre Company; the audience at the Belgrade Theatre gave them an equally warm and appreciative reception. At the cutting edge of social satire in the 70s, skewering social pretension and snobbery along with the cheese and pineapple cubes, this production demonstrates it still has a message for the 21st century and its obsession with celebrity magazines, TV reality shows and footballers’ wives culture – there are Beverleys and Laurences still out there.
The set reflects 70s suburbia beautifully, with sound and lighting smoothly synchronised with the action. Alice Selwyn gives a beautifully-judged performance as Beverley, the cringingly vulgar and oversexed hostess, trapped in a relationship that has failed to meet up with her expectations, and Steve Dineen expertly conveys the increasing frustration of her husband, Laurence, pathetically unable to live up – or down – to his strident wife’s ambitions, desperate to demonstrate his cultural credentials by proffering olives and drawing attention to his leather bound set of Dickens.
As their guests, Amy Starling is rather too much of a caricature as Ange, the dowdy nurse, but nevertheless very funny, while Jamie Matthewman manages to make the somewhat silent Tony interesting. Anna Kirke is excellent as the social misfit, the genuinely well-bred neighbour Susan, Abigail’s mother, who escapes her teenage daughter's party from hell only to find herself at another. As the evening spirals into crisis the laughter faded away, with the Belgrade audience totally involved in a drama that still packs a potent punch.
Beverley: Alice Selwyn.
Laurence: Steve Dineen.
Angela: Amy Starling.
Tony: Jamie Matthewman.
Susan: Anna Kirke.
Director: Michael Cabot.
Designer: Geraldine Bunzl.
Lighting: Peter Foster.
Costume: Katja Krzesinska.
2008-03-31 17:49:40