Abigail’s party

[Namechangedforthis25]

I just watched this play. It was funny but uncomfortable.

I thought it would be about Abigail’s party rather than what it ended up being though. It’s odd. Why is it such a classic??

I love this, first watched it with my mum some 30 years ago.
"Another drink Tone?"

I always say "Come through Sue," to my visitors after spending my teens in the 80s reciting parts from Abigail's Party.
Love it.

I love Abigail's Party - uncomfortable to watch but an absolute classic.

My favourite Mike Leigh film is Life is Sweet. The opening sequence with Alison Steadman is so joyful and then the rest of the film is a tough watch.

Brings back fond memories of university and one of my best friends who was a huge Mike Leigh fan.

I'm almost certain there's a scene in Gavin & Stacey where Pam says 'Suuuue! Big fat Suueee' and she says it exactly the way Beverly says it in Abigail's Party; I wonder did Ruth Jones etc write this in on purpose?

I have always found Mike Leigh's work to have an element of misogyny towards working class women.

100%

I always found Tony to be quite menacing.

IIRC, wasn't Alison Steadman the mother and Ruth Jones the daughter in Fat Friends?

@T4phage I felt the same.Tony definitely had an off vibe about him.

Don't agree.. he is very supportive of women

I love this play - I've got the DvD of it so watch it every now and again.
Alison Steadman is just brilliant. One of my favourite actresses.

Angela is also Swinger Jaqueline in Benedorm .

do love a Mike Leigh film - obviously the way he works is very different but the calibre of actors he has worked with over the years is exceptional. A very underrated but excellent film is ‘Secrets and Lies’ which I would recommend.

I don't think I could watch a Mike Leigh film now. I watched them as a student in the 90s but they were all so depressing lol. I just remember the chocolate spread!!

I so remember the next day at school we were all raving about it - found it hilarious - did all the Beverly impressions and moves - we had no idea of the unspoken layers. Its a real power play with Beverly bullying Tone. The bit where she looks to flick him on the back of his skull when his back is turned.

Now I know from your post as to why we all watched it - as PFT was not the usual teenage fodder.....though I remember another PFT about a school daytrip from Liverpool where the kids nick everything from a newsage en route as well as the animals from the zoo.

I don't think Vera Drake has misogyny.

I really like Topsy Turvey as well for the strong sense of place and time. Although the real life relationship between WS Gilbert and his wife Kitty was actually very loving

Personally, I preferred Nuts in May to AP.

NonComm
I have always found Mike Leigh's work to have an element of misogyny towards working class women.

Don't agree.. he is very supportive of women
We can disagree but I'm not the only one who feels that he has a jeering attitude. The late Kenneth Williams, Dennis Potter and others have commented on this.

I agree though with good reason. They are reflecting the times they are set in especially the period pieces.

In a way I disagree in that it highlights life before abortion was legalised.

@gramachroi - I believe that play was Our Day Out. It featured quite a few kids from my secondary school.

Oh wow - how amazing......absoluetly loved that play as a child - but only in the last few years re-watched as an adult and saw how desperately sad it was.

Why are you surprised that an 'uncomfortable' play is considered a classic, OP?

It's a play about social class, about Thatcherite 'self-improvement' and class aspirationalism and snobbery, about marriage and tastes and social anxiety. Of course it's uncomfortable, whether you think it's a lament at the class system, or the cultural cringe of people aspiring to discard their working-class roots, or about people policing class boundaries etc.

I know 2 people who are exactly like Candice Marie and Keith from Nuts in May, I really have to stifle a laugh (more than once) when they get on about maps and holidays.

But Abigail's Party is a total classic, I was to young to really understand it first time around but watched it since and its just so of its time, gritty and uncomfortable at times, but excellent of what people at that time would aspire to.

I absolutely love ‘Nuts in May’. It’s still hilarious after all the years but I do sometimes have to try and suppress my inner Keith 😀
’Secrets and lies’ is my favourite Mike Leigh film. Although his characters can be exaggerated I don’t think there are many film makers who get so much to the heart of the difficult things that go on within families and how the past continues to cause ripples in the present.