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Tupele Dorgu smiles at the thought of being a guest at the kind of soirée which is at the centre of Abigail’s Party. “It’s not the kind of party I’d want to be at,” she admits. “At the beginning everyone’s very polite but as alcohol gets introduced the niceties drop off and it falls apart.
” Tupele, best known for playing Kelly Crabtree in Coronation Street, is playing Susan in Abigail’s Party which is being staged for the first time at Manchester’s Royal Exchange. Tupele Dorgu and Kym Marsh in rehearsal for Abigail’s Party (Picture: Johan Persson) The cult Seventies’ classic written by Mike Leigh also stars Kym Marsh as party hostess Beverley and Graeme Hawley as Beverley’s husband Laurence. For Tupele, the show marks a return to the stage for the first time in seven years, having split her time between looking after her young son and TV work.
She most recently appeared in Strike as private investigator Midge. “It’s a real thrill to be at the Royal Exchange,” she said. “It really is a dream come true for me.
” As Susan, Tupele is something of an outsider at the party which also features two couples. “Our director Natalie Abrahami said to me at the start of rehearsals that the audience sees the party through Susan’s eyes and I’ve been really conscious of that.” Susan is a reserved character who gradually gets more and more drunk as the party goes on.
Yasmin Taheri and Tupele Dorgu in Abigail's Party (Picture: Johan Persson) "Part of the problem is that I haven’t had my tea,” laughs Tupele. “I think Susan was expecting a dinner party or at least a buffet but there are just a few measly nibbles and it all goes a bit west as she is constantly offered a top up and gets increasingly tipsy.” Although a comedy, Abigail’s Party is very bittersweet.
“It is very funny but it also very sad as well,” said Tupele. “You have all these lonely characters with lots of things going on underneath. There’s an element of them presenting their best selves at the party but that mask gradually slips as the night goes on.
” Tupele believes that in bringing the play to the Royal Exchange, audiences will experience Abigail’s Party in a different way. “One a traditional stage it’s a bit like a slice of a living room,” she said. “but it’s quite different doing it ‘in the round’ as we are.
The audience will feel as though they are in the living room with us; it makes it so much more intimate. “You’ll almost feel as though you are pulling up a seat at this dinner party. It’s a lovely play for that as it’s one set, one space and happens over the course of one evening; you are immersed in it and we want the audience to feel all that we are feeling.
” This means at times that the audience are likely to feel awkward as hostess Beverley becomes increasingly overbearing. Read also: Full review of Abigail's Party at Royal Exchange “The pathos does come through,” said Tupele. “It is cringe funny as these are really human characters.
You can’t describe them as being just one thing like the flirty one or the quiet one. It’s so easy to paint someone as being one dimensional but the more you look at these characters the more you realise there is to them.” In Abigail’s Party Susan is regarded as being ‘a bit posh’ by the two other couples.
“My Susan did not grow up with horses and private schools,” said Tupele. “She didn’t have a privileged upbringing but she did go to uni and broadened her horizons. She loves art and culture and is interested in things and is quite liberal actually.
“I think people think she’s a bit stiff upper lip. Maybe in the way she conducts herself she is conservative; she’s not one to shout to her friends across the street and get drunk and share intimate things.” Tupele admits that playing a character who becomes increasingly tipsy is great fun but also caused a few issues in rehearsals.
“You can’t gradually build up to it when you drop into a specific scene,” she said. “So I wrote at the top of every page of the script what drink I’m on so I knew what state I was supposed to be in at that point.” Abigail’s Party has been something of a Coronation Street reunion with Tupele working once again with Kym Marsh and Graeme Hawley.
“Even though we were all around at the same time, I don’t know if I ever had any lines with either of them,” she said. “but of course we’d see each other around the set and knew each other.” Being back in the theatre is clearly something that Tupele is thoroughly enjoying.
“I trained in theatre and I’ve been on stage since I was a kid so it all feels very natural to me,” she said. “It’s not something I’d turned my back on. TV and theatre are almost completely different mediums and it’s been lovely to get to do all the character work and get to know people and have that camaraderie.
“Off stage you become a little family which is perhaps similar to something long running like Corrie. But if you’re filming a drama series where you do a few episodes you might be with a person for a day then you don’t see them again.” Returning to the theatre will mean she will be spending less time with her son who is now six.
“That will be different working on a Saturday and not being able to do the school pick-up but he’s at an age where he’s not bothered; it’s me who is bothered,” she laughed. “But it’s lovely to be back on stage especially with this production. It’s a classic play and it’s a real thrill.
” Abigail’s Party is at Manchester’s Royal Exchange until Saturday, May 24. Details from www.royalexchange.
co.uk.
