As much as Wyndham’s Theatre was the place to be on Thursday, July 26, 2012, it was Abigail’s Party the audience really wanted to be at. The party taking place at #13 Richmond Road, the residence of Laurence and Beverley Moss, was for people who revel in awkward pauses, passive aggressiveness, and outright bullying. In the 4 pound programme, Alan Bennett is quoted as saying “he would run a mile from all of Leigh’s characters and that the only puzzle about Beverly ... was that she had managed to escape strangulation for so long.”She is full of “d’you know what I mean”s and other clichés, she rather is one herself. She speaks very little of substance and has even less genuine affection/compassion for anyone, least of all the guests at her party. The only reason there is one is because Abigail is having one and the gathering is ostensibly for Sue, Abigail’s mother, and Tony & Angela, newly moved into the neighbourhood, but considering Beverly is in a slinky, revealing, flowing long gown, the party is really for her. You just get the feeling that Laurence is a bit hard done by: he likes classical music, art, wants to visit Paris – aiming for the finer things in life, but his wife Beverly wants none of that. The cracks in their relationship are swiftly apparent and Beverly’s tone when speaking to her husband can be best described as a patronising one, and that's when Beverly is being "nice".
All is not well with Angela and Tony either. Angela is a nurse, devoid of tact and personality. She has no mental or verbal filter, so when she finds out Sue is divorced, Angela is quite interested in that and asks question after question, oblivious to Sue’s increasing discomfort and reluctance to share such a personal and painful experience with a stranger. Angela appears to always jump right in, in the bedroom as well, she tells the assembled party, but often her husband often rolls over in the opposite direction. Tony doesn’t talk much, and with Angela around, there is no need for him to – he just needs to nod or give assent another way. The cracks in their relationship are also clear, but in Angela’s oblivious way, when Beverly spends a good majority of the ‘party’ trying to seduce Tony and during a slow song they do reciprocally paw at one another, she notices nothing.
Jill Halfpenny is note perfect in her nasal Essex voice and seductive body language as Beverly. Laurence as played by Andy Nyman might be just as Essex, but has aspirations for so much more and Nyman’s performance is electric from start to finish. Tony’s so-called quick temper, as portrayed by Joe Absolom, is more of a reaction to endless drivel and his performance does evoke sympathy, to a point. Natalie Casey as Angela was terrific, right down to the awkward dance moves. Sue, as played by Susannah Harker, is really the only likable character and one can sympathise with her the most: quiet, mousy, divorced, agreeable – everything the other two women are not and yet most likely ‘should’ be. But with all those positive qualities, you also get the impression that she is very tightly wound and may be the 'doormat' in a relationship, so when she reaches her breaking point to finally shout "STOP", I remember thinking "YES! FINALLY!". None of these characters are happy people. None of them should be married to one another. While not a “feel-good” play, Mike Leigh’s 1977 story about a night in the lives of these horrid people does make one feel abundantly more cheerful about one’s own lot in life, whatever it may be, and brings on a fervent hope that things will never become THAT BAD.
My seat was in the 4th row, house left in the Royal Circle (first balcony above stalls) and I would not have wanted to be further back or higher up in the house. At that distance, you do start losing subtler visual cues, but you could still hear absolutely everything.
Abigail's Party by Mike Leigh is playing at Wyndham's on the Charing Cross Road (next door to Leicester Square Tube station) at least through the end of August 2012 and has a running time of 2 hours.
Photo from a fellow blogger at oughttobeclowns.blogspot.com
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