Abigail's Party - Review

Stratford East, London

****

Written by Mike Leigh

Directed by Nadia Fall

Tamzin Outhwaite

Tardis-like, Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party takes us back in time nearly 50 years in his eviscerating glimpse into UK suburban life. Played out over a Demis Roussos soundtrack and accompanied by cubes of cheese and pineapple on cocktail sticks, one starts to get a hint of the 1970s culture and attitudes that this play so brilliantly showcases.

Tamzin Outhwaite dominates the play's action (that never leaves her front room) as Beverly, dressed like a wannabe Greek goddess and trying desperately, futilely, to bring a whirl of glamour into her dull marriage to estate-agent Laurence (Kevin Bishop) by having invited the neighbours round for drinks, nibbles and endlessly proffered cigarettes.

In her inept attempts at sophistication, Beverly is a Hyacinth Bucket crossed with Sybil Fawlty, but unlike those two giants of the UK’s comedy landscape, she is a woman with a darker and more vulnerable side. She cannot restrain herself from outrageously provocative flirting with neighbour Tony (Omar Malik), a former professional footballer who in terms of his masculine sexuality, possesses everything that she perceives the inadequate Laurence to lack. And yet, in the play’s finale (no spoilers here) Beverly reveals herself to be both deeply loving of, and possibly emotionally dependant upon, her husband. Beverly is an inspired creation by Leigh, and in Outhwaite’s interpretation, truly one of the most exciting performances to be found in London today.

The supporting actors are similarly excellent in their contributions to this domesticated evening from hell. Ashna Rabheru plays Angela, Tony’s wife. A nurse by profession, yet dominated brutally and bullyingly at home by her husband, Rabheru captures Angela’s naïve yet knowing complexities with a fine understanding. Laurence in his own way is as ghastly as his wife and Bishop does well to capture his aspirational, faux cultural-wisdom alongside his thinly veiled racism.   There is just a hint of Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, as he and Beverly spar in the ring of their unhappy union.

Completing this exquisitely observed quintet is Pandora Colin as divorcee neighbour Susan and mother of the (unseen) 15 year-old Abigail who has been left at home across the road, hosting her eponymous rowdy teenage house party. 

Stratford East’s Artistic Director Nadia Fall directs with perceptive wisdom, her work enhanced by Peter McKintosh’s wonderfully evocative set and costume designs.

Fabulous writing, wonderfully performed – and all at an affordable ticket price too. This production of Abigail’s Party is what a great night at the theatre is all about. 

Runs until 12th October

Photo credit: Mark Senior