by VanLoan
vanloan@nyconstage.org

"Anyone for another gin and tonic; com'on it's a party!!" brays Beverly in the caustic black comedy Abigail's Party. Mike Leigh's first play is an acrid little satire on British suburbia in the 1970's. It is a microcosm for all themes which will later become his trademark in other plays and screenplays. The dissatisfaction and discomfort of the British middle class as they try to move towards a better life has characterized all his work including his masterpiece; the movie Secrets and Lies. Even at this "party", the edges are wearing thin.

Beverly as played with nails-on-blackboard charm by Jennifer Jason Leigh is the hostess/ringleader of this mordant soiree. After driving her put-upon husband into a slow burning fury with her demands (''more crisps!''), Beverly's guests/hostages start to arrive. They are her next door neighbor who's teenage daughter Abigail is having her own party and a co-worker and her husband. Others are expected but never arrive. As Beverly brow-beats each and all to have a good time, she slowly unearths those character defects which make for a combustible mix. The drunken evening quite literally comes to a heart-stopping climax.

Scott Elliot's way with Mike Leigh's work has produced sterling results in the past (Ecstasy and Goose-Pimples) and Abigail's Party is no exception. Even though Jennifer Jason Leigh's character is the catalyst of the evening, all the other performers hold their own against her onslaught. A personal favorite was Darren Goldstein as the dim-witted beefcake that Beverly slovenly throws herself at (think Martha and Nick in Virginia Woolf) but Lisa Emery, Elizabeth Jasicki and Max Baker (as Beverly apoplectic husband) are all first rate.

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