Drinks and nibbles in Abigail’s Party [Ellie Kurtz]

IT’S hard to believe Mike Leigh’s comedy classic is almost 50 years old. Set in 1970s suburbia, overbearing social climber Beverly (Tamzin Outhwaite) and her estate-agent husband Laurence (Kevin Bishop) host a drinks party for their neighbours.

Tony (Omar Malik) and Angela (Lauren Patel) arrive first. A nurse, eager to please, Angela is prone to oversharing; Beverly is attracted to her taciturn husband, a former footballer turned computer operator, and flirts with him relentlessly.

Sue (a brilliantly understated Pandora Colin) turns up last, anxious about the party her teenage daughter Abigail is throwing across the road.

Amid the small talk, telling details emerge as Beverly presses drinks, cigarettes, and her favourite records, including Demis Roussos, on her guests.

When Laurence returns from work, he sees Sue as an ally and tries to bond over olives, classical music and his leather-bound books. The evening grows frenetic as Beverly plies everyone with alcohol and attempts to seduce Tony.

Alison Steadman, who originated Beverly, is a difficult act to follow, but the statuesque Outhwaite, with her Farrah Fawcett hair, is equally brash.

Nadia Fall’s production, which premiered at Stratford East in 2024, is funny but oddly subdued at crucial moments. Fall doesn’t deploy Roussos’s Forever and Ever as I remember, and Beverly’s fondling of Tony’s legs is toned down.

When Beverly produces the kitsch bedroom picture – Stephen Pearson’s Wings of Love, a naked couple sheltered by a giant swan – it lands as an aside rather than Beverly trumping Laurence’s fondness for Van Gogh.

The crescendo feels muted: Laurence’s mounting frustration leading to his heart attack, Angela’s resuscitation attempts and Tony’s call for an ambulance lack the original’s urgency.

Despite this, Peter McKintosh’s orange and beige set and costumes vividly convey the period, and the production delivers plenty of laughs.

Warmly recommended.

Until September 19
haroldpintertheatre.co.uk/