What's On
Abigail’s Party was last performed by NTPDrama (as New Theatre Players) in 1985. This play was made famous by the 1977 TV Play for Today version starring Alison Steadman in the iconic role of Beverley, the ‘Hostess with Mostess’. Since then it has achieved a cult status and a recent revival on the professional stage.
This situation comedy of manners is a satire on the aspirations and tastes of the new middle class that emerged in Britain in the 1970s and NTPD are bringing it to life again in the Concordia Theatre.
It’s the 1970’s and suburban socialite Beverly and her husband Laurence are hosting a drinks party, despite Laurence arriving home late from work. They have invited their new neighbours, married couple Tony and Angela, along with their recently divorced, next door neighbour Susan, who has been banished from her home as her teenage daughter Abigail is throwing her first party. Over drinks and pineapple and cheese on sticks, to the musical strains of Demis Roussos, clichés and fatuous small talk abound and tensions start to rise……
The play is directed by Ian Cray who has directed and appeared in many plays at the Concordia.
Most recently he has directed Lady in the Van for NTPD and appeared as Brooksie in The Shawshank Redemption.
The Cast
Beverley – Hazel Cray
Hazel is no stranger to the Concordia stage and in recent years has been seen in the following NTPD productions;
A social worker in Lady in the Van, the eponymous Sheila in Sheila’s Island and Princess Elizabeth in The King’s Speech.
Laurence – Andy Lacy
Although Andy is well known to Concordia Theatre regulars, this is the first production Andy has appeared in for NTPD for a number of years. We sincerely hope that he will enjoy this so much that he’ll be keen to do another production with us in the near future.
Angela – Sue Williams-Lee
A long-standing regular – Sue has hardly been off the stage recently for NTPD. Her recent roles have been:
Diana Trent in Waiting for God, Mimi in ‘Allo ‘Allo and as one of the cleaners in NTPD’s Studio production of Dirty Dusting.
Tony – Dan Hope
Dan is new to NTPD and we are hoping he is enjoying taking part in this production. We hope we will see him in our future productions too.
Susan – Siobhan Hargrave
Siobhan is also new to NTPD. As with Dan we very much hope that we will see Siobhan again in future NTPD productions.
Rehearsals are well underway. Here are a few photos to whet you appetite!
