Ever been to an 'Abigail's party'.

[NovemberMorn]

Or a party/gathering hosted by a clone of the hostess Bev in Abigails party?

Seems no one has been offered 'more peanuts Ange' this year. 😀

Not me, but a friend was.
The hostess shimmied around the small room, batting her eyes at the men and patronising the wives.
Music was played on a CD, I am not sure if Demis Roussos was singing.
Friend made her excuses and left early.

No but I just wanna add that I love Abigail's Party!!

No but I have been on camping trips that were reminiscent of Nuts in May!

Same - a classic!

I loved Abigails party too, it was groundbreaking TV when it was first shown, I saw it again recently and loved it still.

Bev was horrendous though, and back in the day when people hosted drinks and nibbles in small houses, I can imagine that the play was based on real life experiences.

Allison Steadman was, then and now, brilliant in everything she does.

It came on one day on the GREAT! TV channel and I only watched it for Alison Steadman. I was shocked by the ending!!

It was a really well written piece of comedy, drama, really multi layered.
Back in the day when plays were shown on TV, it was a real stand out piece...and no one else could have played Bev like Alison Steadman did.

@NovemberMorn where did you watch it! I've never seen it

It started out in the theatre, then was made into a TV play, shown on the BBC, first way back in the 70's, reshown in the 90's, but I bet you can still catch it on some obscure channel.

You could get it, and a ton of other Play for Today's on Amazon Prime for a couple of quid each a while ago, might still be the case if you can't find it streaming free anywhere.

You might even find it on YouTube.

Honestly, I think there are likely to be far more Bevs on Mn than Angela or the other neighbour -- Susan? The unseen Abigail's mother?

Here's the first act.

😄
Quite a few Bevs I agree.

I am going to watch the play in April can’t wait.

There is a full remake version on Youtube, it's not the fabulous Alison Steadman playing the lead, though.

It's revived in theatres quite often - worth catching if you can.

They used to have it on the iPlayer but now you have to pay Bezos if you want to watch it.

Now, I've got the bloody zoo song from Nuts in May lodged in my head!

No I've never been to one, but I know what you mean!

Sorry for derailing but has anyone seen, Sightseers (2012)? It reminds me a little of Nuts in May.

It's a brilliant multilayered play but would anyone ever admit to going to one since part of the comedy is the class differences in the group. Not to mention those kind of parties just aren't fashionable anymore. Whereas, according to DH, his parents (academics) had cocktail parties all the time in the 70s & 80s and my parents had dinner parties the whole time back then as well. We are much more informal these days.

Yep. It's basically a very dark version, isn't it? Sort of if Tarantino made Nuts in May.

Also has such brilliant performances from Alice Lowe and Steve Oram.

I saw it in the theatre a million years ago (student production), but from what I remember part of the class comedy was that Abigail's mother, being middle-middle-class, thinks she's been invited around for an informal supper, so hasn't eaten, brings wine, and is informally dressed -- and is made sick by drinking on an empty stomach. Whereas the aspirational WC/lower-MC others are more glammed up, have all had 'their tea' before arriving, dedmonstrating their lower origins.

And yes, I don't think many on here would admit to attending a 21stc version of such a party, because Mn skews aspirational lower-MC, and is very hung up on class shibboleths. Too close to home.