Mike Leigh’s cult-classic ‘Abigail’s Party’ comes to Kingston’s Rose Theatre next month
By Tilly O'Brien
23rd Oct 2024 | Local News
A sparkling new production of Mike Leigh's cult-classic comedy, Abigail's Party will run at the Rose Theatre from 5-16 November.
The play premiered at the Northern stage, Newcastle on 13-18 before embarking on a national tour.
Jack Bradfield, winner of the prestigious RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award presented by Sir Ian McKellen, brings a fresh new perspective to Leigh's ground-breaking play which garnered cult status following the 1977 BBC TV Play for Today starring Alison Steadman.
An award-winning playwright and director, Bradfield is the Artistic Director of Poltergeist and is currently Associate Director on Player Kings in the West End and on tour.
He said: "I'm thrilled to be reviving Mike Leigh's savage suburban comedy.
"We're ratcheting up the awkward, the inappropriate, the unbearable and the plain strange, and staging the play in a whole new way.
"At Northern Stage and across the country, our incredible cast and creative team are going to light a fire under this classic and bring it bright and burning into 2024."
Laura Rogers (The Ocean at the End of the Lane/West End, Dr Who/BBC ONE) will play self-appointed queen of suburbia, Beverly, who is hosting a cocktail party for her new neighbours.
Next door, 15-year-old Abigail is throwing a party of her own.
No one can stop talking about Abigail's party. No one can stop thinking about Abigail's Party. FFSomething must be done about Abigail's party.
Leander Deeny (Wuthering Heights/China Plate, Inspector Sands, Royal & Derngate, Northampton and Oxford Playhouse) will play Beverly's husband, Laurence.
In an exclusive interview with Kingston Nub, both Laura Rogers and Leander Deeny said that they had known about the play prior to being cast in Bradfield's production.
Rogers explained that she actually played Angela in her GCSE version of the play.
She said: "I think more of the adult themes and the darkness of the play would have gone over our heads at that point, because it was all about the laughs and the run of the story.
"So, coming back to it as a grown up with more life experience and being able to take the play apart and really investigating all the different relationships, you realise there are so many darker qualities to this day and it and some of the questions are not are not answered.
"And we didn't try and answer them either in this production because we're just sort of leaving that to the audience to decide what they think."
Despite having watched the BBC version of the play as a teen, Rogers told Kingston Nub that she decided not to rewatch it after being cast in Leigh's production because she remembers Alison Steadman's performance being "so iconic" that she "thought it would be very easy for [her] to watch it now and then try and just copy that, and [she] wanted to bring [her] own interpretations of the character".
Equally, Deeny has not rewatched the BBC version since being cast in Leigh's production because he "was very aware of it as a play from a very particular time because in the BBC version, you get that original design".
He said: "I think Michael was a bit unhappy with how he lit it and was frustrated in some ways.
"But you do see1977 with the room divider, the orange wallpaper, the cheese and pineapple sticks."
Speaking about getting into her character, Rogers said: "This play was improvised originally, so it very strongly had the voice of the original actors all the way running through it.
"The speech patterns are such that they were very, very difficult to learn because obviously they came out of Alison's Steadman's mouth.
"And then when it was transcribed, it just stayed with her voice pattern, so we haven't tried to alter any of the text at all.
"We've tried as hard as we can to stick loyally to what was written. And so, I thought, how would I begin with this?"
Being from South Wales and growing up in Swansea and not really having the opportunity to use her Swansea accent very often, Rogers has decided to use her Swansea accent, which has neutralised over her years living in London, when playing Beverly.
She said: "I showed this to the director when we read through the play. With me doing it in my Welsh accent I thought, actually it really works because the tune pattern really works, and the mannerisms are quite similar to what I think."
Speaking about learning how to play his character, Deeny said: "I thought about getting in touch with the guy who played my part originally who's called Tim Stearns, but a couple of weeks into rehearsals I felt like I wasn't sure why I was doing it, like why I want to get in contact with him because the character was becoming very clear to me.
"I felt quite close to him, and I sort of like, well, maybe this isn't the right decision.
"So, I had started trying to find what Laurence wants to be happening."
Both Rogers and Deeny are very excited about ending the tour in Kingston.
Rogers explained that she has most of her family and friends, including her mum and stepdad, watching in the Rose Theatre.
She said: "Despite the play being a marathon to learn, it's really, really good fun."
Deeny said: "as soon as I saw it on the page, I was just so excited by how many questions there are, and how many strange, unanswered blind alleys there are in the play.
"It's really quite a deep situation, which what you get as an audience is just the worst cocktail party in history."
Having already performed in Newcastle and Colchester, both Rogers and Deeny told Kingston Nub that the production has been well received.
Chaya Gupta (The Government Inspector/ Marylebone Theatre, Hansel and Gretel/Shakespeare's Globe) and Joe Blakemore (The Hunt for Raoul Moat/ITV, HYEM/Theatre 503) play Beverly and Laurence's working-class neighbours Angela and Tony.
Amy Rockson (Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story/Shondaland & Netflix, Dr Faustus/Royal Shakespeare Company) plays next door neighbour Susan, mother of the eponymous Abigail.
Designer Anna Yates (Glee & Me/Royal Exchange Theatre) has created a visually stunning set inspired by the original cast's visit to the Ideal Home Show exhibition as part of the devising process.
Designed to transport audiences to 1977 without becoming caricatured or cliched, the production has a contemporary feel, opening the play up and showing it from a new angle.
The creative team also includes Sound Designer Jamie Lu (The Haunting/New Vic Theatre), Movement Director Rachel Birch Lawson (The Wolves/Theatre Royal Stratford East), and Casting Director Annelie Powell.
Northern Stage Artistic Director, Natalie Ibu, said: "Mike Leigh's iconic comedy rightly deserves its cult status.
"Jack's vision brings it to life for audiences in 2024 with wit, humour and sprinkle of psychological drama - it will be spectacular.
"Here at Northern Stage and indeed all our co-producers, we are committed to supporting the development of the next generation of inspiring, ambitious and skilled theatre artists to make work on stages across the country, so we're thrilled to premiere this new production in Newcastle and audiences across the UK are in for a real treat."
Abigail's Party is a Northern Stage, Rose Theatre, Mercury Theatre and ETT co-production, and is supported by a grant from the Royal Theatrical Support Trust.
The play opened at Northern Stage, Newcastle before touring to Mercury Theatre Colchester (2-12 October), Blackpool Grand (22-26 October) and Rose Theatre (5-16 November).
Book your Rose Theatre tickets here.
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