Let’s travel back to the 1970s and a time of cheese and pineapple on sticks, paisley prints, and Dennis Rousseau. This evening, suburban socialite Beverly and her husband Laurence are hosting a drinks party, despite Laurence arriving home late from work. They have invited their new neighbors, married couple Tony and Angela, along with their recently divorced, next door neighbor Susan, who has been banished from her home as her teenage daughter Abigail is throwing her first party. As the drinks flow, tensions rise.
The play was written as a television play for the BBC in 1977 and famously starred Alison Steadman in the main role. Originally developed through lengthy improvisations, Abigail’s Party is a biting satire of British middle-class aspirations in the 1970s.
Beverly | Sarah Ash |
Laurence | Roger Niven |
Angela | Jo Langfield |
Tony | Craig Parker |
Susan | Di Wallsgrove |
Director | Alan Ward |
Producers | Alan & Marion Ward |
Stage Manager | Marion Ward |
Assistant Stage Manager | Janice Halsey |
Lighting Design | Roger Niven |
Sound Design | Howard Alston |
Lighting & Sound Operation | Tracey Ancsell |
Set Design | Alan Ward & Pete Woodward |
Set Construction | Pete Woodward, Sally Hartley & Julie Burt-Wood |
Paintings | David Penrose |
Flyer Design | Emily Harlow & Dan Finch |
Programme Editor | Derek Callam |
Photography | John Ash |
Front of House Manager | Ingrid Corrigan |