Abigail's Party

Originally screened as part of BBC's Play for Today series in 1977, Abigail's Party is among Mike Leigh's most celebrated pieces. Alison Steadman delivers an appallingly brilliant performance as the 'brutal hostess' at a ghastly suburban soiree. The dull thud of a teenage party forms a distant backdrop to an excruciating evening of chilled red wine, olives, and the music of Demis Roussos.

Steadman plays the overbearing Beverly, an Amazonian mass of frustrated sensuality in a low-cut party frock. Tim Stern is her small, stressed estate-agent husband. The guests include Janice Duvitski as Angela, a nurse whose spectacular gormlessness shields her from the stilted social awkwardness, John Salthouse as Tony, her taciturn husband, and Harriet Reynolds as Sue, the gangly and miserably nervous mother of Abigail.

Rather than play for gags, Leigh and his actors mercilessly turn the screw of embarrassment through a series of too-true-to-life exchanges of dialogue. Often misread as a satirical parade of suburban grotesques, Abigail's Party probes deeper, touching on nerves of anxiety and repression that throb behind the net curtains of modern England, culminating not in farce but tragedy.

Decades on, Abigail's Party is as psychologically true and close to home as ever—hard to bear but utterly brilliant.

On the DVD, Abigail's Party is perfectly reproduced in all its 1970s garishness. The one extra is a short featurette focusing on Alison Steadman's playing of Beverly, with comments from the original actors and Peter York marvelling at her 'paint-scraping' voice.

• Format: PAL
• Language: English (Mono)
• Run Time: 1 hour
• Release Date: 26 May 2003
• Rated: Parental Guidance
• Aspect Ratio: 4

• Director: Mike Leigh
• Actors: Alison Steadman, Janine Duvitski, Harriet Reynolds, John Salthouse, Tim Stern

This DVD offers a psychologically true and brilliant portrayal of suburban life, making it a must-watch for fans of insightful drama.