1 week Ago
It's the party you never want to go to. Having the neighbours round for a few drinks might seem like a good idea but in Mike Leigh's classic, the facade of urban civility soon slips. Inner tensions come to the fore as the drinks flow and hostess with the mostest Beverly's perfect world comes crashing down around her in excruciating fashion.
Kym Marsh as Beverly and Graeme Hawley as Laurence in Abigail's Party (Picture: Johan Persson) Surprisingly this is the first time Abigail's Party has ever been staged at the Royal Exchange and designer Peter Butler certainly makes the most of the theatre's unique performance space to create a stylised Seventies' suburbia which is truly spectacular. Director Natalia Abrahami has moved the piece from Essex to the North West which creates an additional familiarity for the audience. Graeme Hawley as Laurence and Kym Marsh, Beverly in Abigail's Party (Picture: Johan Persson) Kym Marsh, making her Royal Exchange debut, is the overbearing Beverly, queen of all she surveys with a seemingly perfect lifestyle.
But, as we gradually come to discover, like all the characters it's all a front. She may boast about her rotisserie and real leather suite but she's essentially lonely and unfulfilled. The former Coronation Street star looks fabulous in her flowing gown and with her Charlie's Angels haircut.
As she serves up drink after drink she uses a mixture of charm, persistence and veiled malice to impose herself on her guests. At times her part patronising, fake sincerity morphs into Mrs Merton-like territory and we don't really get to see her inherent loneliness too often. But there are moments of true quality such as when she sizes up neighbour Tony like a cheetah eyeing up a wildebeest or when she loses herself dancing to her favourite José Feliciano record.
Graeme Hawley as Beverly's estate agent husband Laurence has, in the first half of the show, some of the funniest moments. Often the victim of his wife's most cutting barbs he is both hapless and helpless resorting to gulping down the Scotch to avoid snapping back. Angela and Tony, a couple who have recently moved on to the street, are part prey for the increasingly out of control Beverly but also are papering over the vast chasms in their own relationship.
Kyle Rowe as Tony in Abigail's Party (Picture: Johan Persson) Yasmin Taheri's Angela is naive and clearly in awe of the lifestyle enjoyed by her new 'best friend' Beverly. But we also learn she's in a harmful relationship with the brooding Tony. Initially Kyle Rowe's Tony appears to be the sort of person who doesn't do parties with his monosyllabic replies but as the piece progresses he becomes more menacing.
Yasmin Taheri as Angela and Tupele Dorgu as Susan in Abigail's Party (Picture: Johan Persson) Perhaps the strongest performance comes from Tupele Dorgu as Susan the divorced, long-time resident whose daughter Abigail is having a party of her own. Clearly uncomfortable from the start, as the gin and tonics begin to take their toll she gets more and more inebriated yet at the same time appears to become more and more aware of this nest of vipers she's landed herself in. It's a difficult part to play of as it relies so much on body language and facial expressions but it's beautifully executed.
As well as looking fabulous, the set also adds to the storyline. A clever revolve as the 70s classics play - Demis Roussos anyone? - heightens the feeling in the audience of the developing chaos and the way everyone's carefully constructed illusion gradually falls apart. The venue itself adds to the intimacy.
You really do feel as though you are an invisible guest and could help yourself to a cheese and pineapple nibble. Widely acknowledged as a classic, Abigail's Party is brilliantly written and although firmly rooted in 1977 it is not just a nostalgia piece. It's an exploration of the fronts we put up to portray the perfect image of ourselves we'd like others to believe - remember this was written long before the days of Instagram and influencers.
Abigail's Party is built around the comedy of embarrassment and awkwardness. It's meant to make you cringe - and you will on numerous occasions. This is a really solid production but perhaps because of all the hype in advance, and the sheer brilliance of the original TV play for me it didn't quite live up to expectations.
Abigail's Party is at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, until May 24. Details from www.royalexchange.
co.uk.
