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Learn more about this title's writer and director in as we put Mike Leigh In the Director's Chair...
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Originally screened as part of BBC's Play for Today series in 1977, Abigail's Party is among Mike Leigh's most celebrated pieces, with his then-wife Alison Steadman appallingly brilliant as what Alan Bennett described as the "brutal hostess" at a ghastly suburban soiree. The Abigail of the title never appears--rather, the dull thud of her lively teenage party forms a distant backdrop (and contrast) to an excruciating evening of chilled red wine, olives and the music of Demis Roussos. Steadman plays the overbearing Beverley, an Amazonian mass of frustrated sensuality in a low-cut party frock. Tim Stern is her small, stressed estate-agent husband. The guests are Janice Duvitski as Angela, a nurse whose quite spectacular gormlessness shields her from the stilted social awkwardness quietly raging around her, John Salthouse as Tony, her taciturn husband and Harriet Reynolds as Sue, the gangly and miserably nervous mother of Abigail.
Rather than play for gags, Leigh and his actors mercilessly turn the screw of embarrassment through a series of too-true-to-life exchanges of dialogue, the stuff of all our collective worst memories of encounters with neighbours, aunts and office colleagues. Often misread as a satirical parade of suburban grotesques, Abigail's Party probes deeper than that, touching on nerves of anxiety and repression that throb behind the net curtains of modern England, culminating not in farce but tragedy. Decades on, Abigail's Party is as psychologically true and close to home as ever--hard to bear but utterly brilliant.
On the DVD: Abigail's Party is perfectly reproduced here in all its 1970s garishness. The one extra is a short featurette, focussing on Alison Steadman's playing of Beverley, with comments from the original actors in the TV series and Peter York marvelling at her "paint-scraping" voice. --David Stubbs
DVD Description
Beverly wears low-cut dresses, too much make-up and has a reputation as a man-eating monster. In Mike Leigh's modern classic, Abigail's Party, she turns a social get-together between married couples into a virtual time bomb of emotional tension. Alison Steadman won two best actress awards for her portrayal of the bored, bitchy hostess in this savagely funny study of pretentious middle-class social manners. It also stars Tim Stern, Janine Duvitski, John Salthouse and Harriet Reynolds.
Running Time: 60 minutes + 6 minutes approx.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Stands the test of time,
By
This review is from: Abigail's Party (BBC) [1977] [DVD] (DVD)
I hadn't seen this for quite a few years and was afraid it might have lost its impact but it hasn't. It's still just as toe-curling and awful, and hilarious, as it was back in the seventies. Steadman is the obvious star, with her incredible mannerisms and burly shoulders, but Janine Duvitski is almost as good as the drippy yet crass Angie who embarrasses her husband with every word.Not much happens of course. Except at the end. Mostly it's just drinks being served and guests squirming, but the whole play is priceless. As time goes by, the perfect 1970s set becomes all the more nostalgic, and this only adds to the appeal. I was pleasantly surprised by the picture quality. Extras are limited to a short exerpt from a documentary about funny women, but there are brief interviews with most members of the cast inclusing Steadman and Duvitski . Highly recommended. A classic.
55 of 57 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Black comedy at its very best...,
By
This review is from: Abigail's Party (BBC) [1977] [DVD] (DVD)
Like "The Office" 25 years later, "Abigail's Party" is such perfectly targeted, close to the truth humour that it makes you laugh out loud and cringe with embarrassment at the same time. In a setting that represents everyone's nightmare of mid 70's middle class life it sucks you into its brilliantly drawn world and then leaves you as some sort of unwelcome voyeur in the cocktail party from hell. Like most of the people there, you want to get out but you can't leave. And as things go from bad to worse you end up totally transfixed by the sheer awfulness of the situation you find yourself in.With characters whose lives are so desperately frustrating that real aggression lies only just below the surface, this is black comedy at its very best precisely because it's much too close to reality for comfort. You can't help but laugh but you know that you're laughing at these people and their tragically depressing lives, and by the "sting in the tail" ending you really wish you hadn't. Brilliantly written, directed and acted "Abigail's Party" is far more than a humorous period piece and, quite rightly, stands up there as one of the very best British TV plays of the past thirty years.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mirror Mirror .......,
By The Bellringer (London UK) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Abigail's Party (BBC) [1977] [DVD] (DVD)
This is quite deservedly a classic, despite the two negative reviews by "a customer". It is however excrutiating watching at times and purely because it is truly a mirror on not just the seventies warts and all, but on our society as still it is today. The only problem I have with this is that being a DVD it can be switched off when it becomes too skin crawlingly awful. Imagine the agony as an audience when you had to sit through it in a theatre unable to escape as it all unfolds in front of you. The seventies is merely a contemporary backdrop. This could be the year 2007 with a power dressing career woman inviting the new neighbours round to socially demolish them and establish the pecking order. An abject lesson in how not to behave in polite company.
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