Abigail's Party - Spring 1991
May 1991
Location: Cordes Hall, Sunninghill, SL5 9NE
Directed by: Peggy Flint
Written by: Mike Leigh
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. Beverly flirts with Tony, while Laurence sulks on the sofa. Sniping, bickering, and drunken dancing ensue, until the evening comes to a sudden close when Laurence suffers a fatal heart attack.
Originally developed through lengthy improvisations, Abigail’s Party is a biting satire of British middle-class aspirations in the 1970s.