ABIGAIL’S PARTY
Photos: Ellie Kurtz
Two factors are at play when it comes to this iconic piece of drama. Firstly Mike Leigh’s brilliant script, a piece of writing simply larded with wonderful and memorable lines and a plot so comic and yet so dark. Secondly for so many the original TV production’s cast populated by some career forming performances. There’s little need for me to name them here, few will not know to who I refer. Those two very distinct factors must have struck fear into the hearts and souls of those involved in creating this new production and in a sense to every audience member who is familiar with the original. I for one had such fear.
But from the very opening moments of this new production it became very clear that we were in for a treat. Tamsin Outhwaite was the very essence of Beverly, over-dressed and over the top, from that hysterically bizarre dance to the final dénouement she makes the role her own. The same can be said of the entire company Kevin Bishop is a marvellously frustrated Laurence, ambitious in every sense, from his passion for estate agency to his misguided cultural ambition, predictable art and unread Dickens and Shakespeare.
Pandora Colin is so wonderfully restrained as neighbour Sue, lured into the story and from the very outset so very uncomfortable. It’s a role of few words and yet so much to convey and here it is done to great effect.
In contrast we have Angela, or Angie as Beverly insists on calling her. This is one of the great comic roles of theatre and Lauren Patel makes it her own as she downs the G&Ts and falls under the spell of Beverley.
Husband Tony is her monosyllabic partner, clearly uneasy to start but where will that lead… The towering presence of Omar Malik in the role works so well as he slips from staid to sexy as the story unfolds and the pale ale slips down.
This is a first class company playing on a beautifully realised set and in costumes by Peter McKintosh that are so immaculately period and yet, with the current trend for what is now known as “mid-century modern”, all too familiar. Growing up in the seventies as I did the whole was so very very real, I even remember my mother having a similar dress to Beverley’s tangerine monstrosity.
From light to so very dark Leigh’s script is a gem, even finding comedy in those final moments as the drinks party from hell reaches its end. It once again comes down to two factors, fine writing and a cast who are good enough to deliver those lines in a way that is simultaneously fresh and respectful. Director Nadia Fall achieves just that in this vibrant new revival of what we must regard as a classic.
Andrew Kay
7 July
Theatre Royal Brighton
Rating:
