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Abigail’s Party
Royal Exchange Manchester
MIKE LEIGH’S Abigail’s Party was a huge hit with both critics and audiences when it premiered at the Hampstead Theatre 1977. Its success led to a televised version being screened in the prestigious Play for Today series on BBC.
Leigh has created a tragi-comedy around Beverley and Laurence, an upwardly mobile couple with aspirations for sophistication.
Inviting new neighbours round for drinks gives Beverley the opportunity to display her middle-class pretensions and her sense of good taste. Another neighbour, Susan, has also been invited.
Abigail doesn’t actually appear in the play, she is Susan’s 15-year-old daughter who is having her own party at home.
Over the course of the next couple of hours the guests drink a lot, snipe a lot, drink some more then snipe some more, followed by more drinks and more sniping until we hit the dramatic climax.
Despite the laughs there is something very uncomfortable about this play. The disdain which Susan, the only middle-class character, has for her neighbours permeates the piece creating a rather nasty feeling.
This is not the fault of the production. Director Natalie Abrahami can only work with what she’s got and the cast led by Kym Marsh as Beverley, the hostess from hell, give their all. Even Peter Butler’s wonderfully designed set is not enough.
The problem is Abigail’s Party is not a very good play; which is frustrating as there are brief hints at some interesting themes around class, the pressures of a lifestyle one pay cheque away from disaster, and coercive control. But Leigh jettisons these in favour of focusing on the flow of alcohol and cheese and pineapple on sticks.
For all its critical acclaim, I think Denis Potter’s view is correct that the play is rather condescending. It feels that the audience is being encouraged to laugh at rather than with the characters.
Maybe after 48 years, it is time we moved on and left Abigail to enjoy her own party.
Runs until May 24 2025. Box office: (0161) 833-9833, tickets.royalexchange.co.uk.
