United Kingdom Mike Leigh’s Abigail’s Party (directed by Nadia Fall for Theatre Royal Stratford East): Harold Pinter Theatre, 19.8.2026 (BF) ***
This is Mike Leigh’s comedy (or tragi-comedy) of suburban aspirations and limitations, first staged and then televised as a BBC Play for Today back in 1977.
Tamzin Outhwaite takes on the role of the suburban monster Beverly, famously first played by Alison Steadman. Outhwaite prowls around the stage, tossing her big blond mane, reminding us (or those of us old enough) of Farrah Fawcett, in a tawny kaftan-style dress, and gold shoes, resembling nothing so much as a hungry lioness. She then proceeds to devour her hapless workaholic estate agent husband Laurence (Kevin Bishop) and the guests at the drinks party the couple are holding.
This is a play of social observation, with very little action, but considerable violence all the same. Beverly is bored with her life and unfulfilled so, like the Marquise de Merteuil in Les Liaisons Dangereuses, (recently staged by the National Theatre in London and reviewed here), she fills the void by destroying people. The weapons at her disposal are her vicious barbed tongue and the restraints of social convention. She snipes at her husband throughout the evening, the attacks getting more and more ferocious until eventually (spoiler alert) he collapses. She psychologically undermines the socially uncertain guests, new neighbours Tony (Omar Malik) and Angela (Lauren Patel), flirting crudely with him while undermining her, while forcing drinks on reluctant neighbour Sue (Pandora Colin), until she is physically sick.
The play’s themes include consumerism – house prices and house décor figure largely. Being about British people, the themes naturally include class: Laurence exposes his cultural pretensions when he retaliates against Beverly’s attacks by showing off his sets of Dickens and Shakespeare (clearly unread), his Van Gogh print, his classical music records, noting their superiority to Beverly’s tastes. The lower status of the new neighbours is underlined – Tony works in computers, but only as a ‘computer operative’, while Beverly offers Angela unsolicited advice on improving her appearance. Sue, exiled by her teenage daughter Abigail from the party of the title, well-spoken and an architect’s ex-wife, dowdy, anxious and gauche, is clearly out of her depth in this milieu, which enables Beverly to play on her anxieties about the party while preventing her from leaving to check on it.
An additional theme, added no doubt in a spirit of updating, is racism. This is unspoken and quite subtly done by having Tony and Angela played by British Asian actors. That gives a specific resonance to remarks about the undesirable changes in the local area caused by new people moving in.
It is hard not to feel sorry for Beverly’s victims. When we first see Laurence, he is working desperately hard to maintain the couple’s lifestyle, going to ridiculous lengths, even grovelling, for his estate agency clients – to Beverly’s contempt and irritation. Angela tries to conceal the problems in her and Tony’s relationship by fake cheeriness, Sue is obviously unhappy, yet all are overpowered by Beverly’s personality and persistence and constrained by social convention from standing up to her, to such an extent that it comes as a welcome relief when Laurence at last shouts at her: ‘Shut up, Beverly!’
The observation is acute, the dialogue is convincing, and the whole thing extremely cruel. But is it funny? For this reviewer no – it was very painful but not at all funny. And the repetition of banal dialogue becomes tedious if it makes you yawn rather than laugh. However, it must be admitted that most of the audience felt very differently, shrieking with laughter every time Beverly forced another drink on the guests – perhaps that was a running gag? – and giving the now obligatory standing ovation at the end. So it might be your cup of tea though it wasn’t mine.
The production is at Harold Pinter Theatre until 19 September.
Barbara Ford
Featured Image: Omar Malik (Tony), Tamzin Outhwaite (Beverly) and Pandora Colin (Sue) © Ellie Kurtz
Cast:
Beverly – Tamzin Outhwaite
Laurence – Kevin Bishop
Sue – Pandora Colin
Tony – Omar Malik
Angela – Lauren Patel
Creatives:
Director – Nadia Fall
Set and Costume designer – Peter McKintosh
Lighting designer – Howard Harrison
Sound designer – Alexandra Faye Braithwaite
Movement director – James Cousins
Associate Costume designer – Mary Charlton