These Theatre Thoughts

  Abigail’s Party is an iconic piece of not just theatre, but history. Everyone who has seen the television play starring Alison Steadman as Beverly will remember it; it – and Beverly herself – are hard to forget. So what was this production going to be like? Was it going to stay true to the play and the characters we all love (or at least have a grudging liking for), or was it going to be something entirely different? The good news – at least, it was for me – is that this production is as close to the original as it could get. The characters, the set, the awkwardness, the realness… they’re all there, and it is a joy to experience it ‘in the flesh’. The set is the first thing we see, and it is fantastic (as Beverly herself would say). All browns and oranges, a shag pile rug over wooden flooring (no fitted carpets here, although the neighbours have them), a spider plant, and of course the cocktail cabinet that dominates the room, pulling us in. It’s inevitable that anyone who enters...