Abigail’s Party – Darlington Hippodrome

Writer: Mike Leigh

Director: Michael Cabot

In the forty-plus years since Abigail’s Party debuted, a lot has changed. This comedy of manners points a microscope at a very specific type of human interaction and ramps up the uncomfortable level to eleven. But while human nature never really alters across the generations and the faux pas and awkwardness that is presented here is still embarrassingly recognisable, the comments that Leigh’s play makes on the class divide do now seem a little quaint.

Mike Leigh has made a career out of social commentary but compared to some of his later works, Abigail’s Party seems muted in that department. Playing more like an extended episode of a sitcom, the rather heavy-handed commentary on the class divide is incidental to the meat of the piece: putting five people in a room together and standing back to watch the fireworks. And fireworks do indeed ensue in what becomes a party from hell.

Beverly (Rebecca Birch) invites new neighbours Angela and Tony (Alice De-Warrenne and George Readshaw) over for drinks and nibbles. Also invited is Susan (Jo Castleton) who is keeping out of her own house while her daughter Abigail throws the titular party. Beverly’s husband Laurence (Tom Richardson) is a successful estate agent and their house is large and well furnished. Meanwhile it is revealed that Angela and Tony are from poor backgrounds and have little money. As the evening progresses, Beverly’s increasingly aggressive demands that her guests enjoy themselves and her unashamed flirting with Tony start to bring out the worst in Laurence, leading to a night that none of them will forget.

The play starts gently and builds like a pressure cooker up to the climactic blowout. This means that the first act, while funny, is rather slow. Only in the second half does the drama and the laughs start to arrive with particular mention to the hilarious physical comedy that director Michael Cabot gives the characters as they dance and drunkenly make fools of themselves.

The cast are all excellent. Birch is a deliciously over-the-top Beverly who is both appallingly annoying and strangely tragic and sympathetic. This is a powerhouse performance that is clearly very demanding, and the amount of energy and character that Birch delivers allows her Beverly to quickly dissipate any comparisons to Alison Steadman’s iconic portrayal. Tom Richardson’s Laurence delivers an equally nuanced performance, starting off as a hen-pecked husband but soon revealing his bigoted views and bullying behaviour. Richardson’s habit of bending his knees slightly as he addresses people who are seated is a wonderful running joke. Alice De-Warrenne’s Angela is suitably annoying and completely oblivious to her surroundings. Possessing no filters, De-Warrenne is gifted some of the best lines and delivers them with great comic skill, as well as displaying wonderful physical comedy skills. George Readshaw manages to still be memorable as the monosyllabic Tony amongst all of the larger character performances, and even gets possibly the biggest laugh of the night as he quickly adjusts his clothing to cover his… embarrassment. As what could probably be best described as the “straight man” in all of the chaos, Jo Castleton delivers a lovely performance as Susan, her physical and facial reactions to the madness being as funny as the situations themselves.

Michael Cabot manages to keep everything interesting within such a limited setting and a small cast, and Bek Palmer’s set and costume design perfectly capture the “what on earth were they thinking” aesthetic of the 1970s.

This London Classic Theatre production is extremely well cast, designed, directed and presented. It is just let down a little by the piece itself, with the script feeling dated and inconsequential. It isn’t quite weighty enough to be classed as a drama, and isn’t funny enough to be considered a comedy As a curio of its time its fine, but otherwise there are probably better parties to go to.

Runs until 17th June 2023.