Abigail's Party is a play for stage and television written and directed in 1977 by Mike Leigh. It is a suburban situation comedy of manners, and a satire on the aspirations and tastes of the new middle class that emerged in Britain in the 1970s. The play developed in lengthy improvisations during which Mike Leigh explored the characters with the actors, but did not always reveal the incidents that would occur during the play. The production opened in April 1977 at the Hampstead Theatre, and returned after its initial run in the summer of 1977, 104 performances in all. A recording was arranged at the BBC as a Play for Today, produced by Margaret Matheson, and transmitted in November of 1977.
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The television version was abridged from over two hours to 104 minutes; the record played by Beverly in the original stage production at the Hampstead Theatre was "Light My Fire" by José Feliciano and in the TV production it was the 1973 hit "Forever and Ever" by Demis Roussos - Leigh had to replace nearly all the music with artists recorded on British labels, for copyright reasons, in case the BBC sold the play to the United States. As José Feliciano became Demis Roussos, so Elvis Presley gave way to Tom Jones. Other music used in the BBC production included "Love to Love You Baby" by Giorgio Moroder and a piece of library music by Robert Farnon entitled "Blue Theme".
The original play starred Alison Steadman as Beverly, and Tim Stern as her husband Laurence. They are holding a drinks party for their new neighbours Angela (Janine Duvitski), and her husband Tony (John Salthouse). They also invite Susan (Thelma Whiteley), another neighbour. Abigail herself is never seen – she is Susan's 15-year-old daughter, who is holding her first teenage party next door. For the television version the original cast reprised their roles, with the exception of Thelma Whiteley, who was replaced by Harriet Reynolds.
Each of the original cast largely devised the back story to their character. John Salthouse brought his early career as a footballer with Crystal Palace to that of Tony. According to Leigh, discussions at the improvised sessions included whether Beverly's name should have a third 'e' or not. The most complex relationship was worked out between Angela and Tony, the background being that Tony fell for Angela when she was his nurse in hospital. Little of this is disclosed during the narrative, although something of it becomes apparent when Angela steps in to care first for Sue, then the stricken Laurence, and the centre of power between the couple starts to shift noticeably.
The terrain is 'the London side of Essex', 'theoretical Romford' according to Leigh. [2] Beverly Moss invites her new neighbours, Angela and Tony, who moved into the road just two weeks ago, over for drinks. She has also invited her neighbour Susan, divorced for three years, whose fifteen-year-old daughter Abigail is holding a party back in their house. Beverly's husband Laurence comes home late from work, just before the guests arrive. The gathering starts off in a stiff, insensitive, British-middle-class way as the virtual strangers tentatively gather, until Beverly and Laurence start sniping at each other. As Beverly serves more drinks and the alcohol takes effect, Beverly flirts more and more overtly with Tony, as Laurence sits impotently by. After a tirade about art, Laurence suffers a fatal heart attack. Within this simple framework, all of the obsessions, prejudices, fears and petty competitiveness of the protagonists are ruthlessly exposed.
Susan represents the upper middle-class, Beverly and Laurence the aspirational middle middle-class and Tony and Angela the "new arrivals" and lower middle-class. The comedy arises from Beverly's inept attempts to help Angela and Tony, on account of her perceived class superiority, and Susan, on account of the fact that she is (still) married.
Channel 4's reviewer said: "Abigail's Party still ranks as the most painful hundred minutes in British comedy-drama."
In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, Abigail's Party was placed 11th. It also appeared in a Radio Times poll to find the top 40 greatest TV shows on British television, published in August 2003.
Several critics (notably Tom Paulin[3]) have responded more negatively, noting that Abigail's Party appears to represent a middle-class schadenfreude, with the only true middle class character, Susan, looking on at the antics of the couples with disdain. Nonetheless Leigh has responded that none of this prevents the characters (Beverly and Laurence in particular) reflecting the real-life behaviours of aspiring couples in mid 1970s suburbia. Other aspects of the narrative which appear to conform to this stereotype have become 'correct practice' but the naive storing of a red wine, a beaujolais, in the refrigerator ironically is the correct practice for beaujolais nouveau.[4]
In 2003 the TV version was released on a BBC DVD; it was also released on VHS in 1984. In 2003 the play was staged in London's West End, with Elizabeth Berrington as Beverly.
The play was revived in Wolverhampton at the Grand Theatre (2005), and at the Northcott Theatre in Exeter (2006).
Abigail's Party at the Internet Movie Database
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