Review: ABIGAIL'S PARTY, Starring Tamzin Outhwaite, Harold Pinter Theatre

Nadia Fall is now firmly ensconced in her role as Artistic Director of the Young Vic, but her final show at Stratford East back in 2024 was a brilliantly realised revival of Mike Leigh's seminal work, Abigail's Party. Now having a much-deserved West End transfer, it lands on the Harold Pinter stage in all its excruciating glory.

There has to be good reason for staging a much-revived play and Leigh's text is surely reason enough. Following a torturous evening where narcissistic Beverly is hosting a drinks party with awkward neighbour Sue and newcomers Tony and Angela, while her increasingly stressed husband Laurence is ordered about, Leigh uncovers multiple layers of inherent darkness under uproarious comedy. 

However, this cast is to be highly commended for delivering much of the show as if it were freshly written. Tamzin Outhwaite relishes every second as Beverly, dominating the stage as much as the character itself. Her physical movements tell as much as her spiky comments, as she drapes herself over the sofa and casts lascivious glances at Tony. Every gesture is considered, from the louche way she holds her cigarettes, to the angle she holds her head when addressing her guests with an agonisingly sing-song voice – James Cousins's movement direction is superb. Outhwaite oozes with passive agression and overt flirtation; it's a full-throated and brilliantly realised performance.

It's impossible to think of the role of Beverly without Alison Steadman's incredible performance coming to mind, but Outhwaite was surely born for this role, very much bringing her own slant to Beverly's mindset. She has more malice, more manipulation in her intensions – deftly brought to life in an eye-catching act 2 opener which sees each character robotically moving to a blast of Donna Summer's "Love To Love You Baby", where Beverly goes round pushing her guests into increasingly more awkward positions. This is Beverly's world and they are all just pawns in her game.

Kevin Bishop is excellent as the increasingly tense Laurence, particularly as he desperately tries to assert his own tastes and artistic preferences. Bishop shows a deeply unhappy and dissatisfied man who snaps at his wife in response to her constant attempts to belittle and demean him. He is less sympathetic than some interpretations, with his middle-class pretentions and rudeness.

Fall's decision to cast a South Asian couple as Angela and Tony works well, bringing new sharpness to Laurence's snarky comments about the changing quality of people within the local community. Omar Malik is a suitably sullen Tony who displays very jagged edges in his harsh treatment of his wife. Lauren Patel is the only new cast member since the Stratford East run and creates a child-like Angela, who constantly looks adoringly at Beverly as she puts her foot in it again and again. Pandora Colin is wonderful as the socially stiff Sue, so overly polite she makes herself ill by accepting too many gin and tonics.

Peter McKintosh's set is a riot of 1970s orange and yellow, with Laurence's pretentiously beloved Van Gogh and Lowry prints on the wall, contrasting with Beverly's (silver-plated) candelabra and fibre optic lamp. Costumes are on point, with Outhwaite bedecked in a diaphanous tangerine orange dress, gold platforms and turquoise eyeshadow. Credit must also go to Bunny's wig management, as Beverly's huge Farrah Fawcett blonde wig is thrown around so much it almost becomes a character itself.

Fall's deft direction maximises the comedy, but also the agonising and almost unbearable sadness lurking below. Abigail's Party is the ultimate drinks party from hell, but this vibrant and perfectly-pitched production means you just can't take your eyes off it.

Abigail's Party is at the Harold Pinter Theatre until 19 September

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