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Abigail's Party (BBC) [1977]
starring: Alison Steadman, Tim Stern, Janine Duvitski, John Salthouse, Harriet Reynolds
directed by: Mike Leigh

List Price: £15.99

Off The Bookshelf's Price: £11.18

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Used Price: £9.99
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Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: Parental Guidance
Binding: DVD
EAN: 5014503119829
Format: PAL
Label: 2 Entertain Video
Manufacturer: 2 Entertain Video
Number Of Discs: 1
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: 2 Entertain Video
Region Code: 2
Release Date: May 26, 2003
Running Time: 102 minutes
Studio: 2 Entertain Video
Theatrical Release Date: 1977
Sales Rank: 2892

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Editorial Review:

Amazon.co.uk Review:
Originally screened as part of BBC's Play for Today series in 1977, Abigail's Party is among Mike Leigh's most celebrated pieces, with his then-wife Alison Steadman appallingly brilliant as what Alan Bennett described as the "brutal hostess" at a ghastly suburban soiree. The Abigail of the title never appears--rather, the dull thud of her lively teenage party forms a distant backdrop (and contrast) to an excruciating evening of chilled red wine, olives and the music of Demis Roussos. Steadman plays the overbearing Beverley, an Amazonian mass of frustrated sensuality in a low-cut party frock. Tim Stern is her small, stressed estate-agent husband. The guests are Janice Duvitski as Angela, a nurse whose quite spectacular gormlessness shields her from the stilted social awkwardness quietly raging around her, 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, the stuff of all our collective worst memories of encounters with neighbours, aunts and office colleagues. Often misread as a satirical parade of suburban grotesques, Abigail's Party probes deeper than that, 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 here in all its 1970s garishness. The one extra is a short featurette, focussing on Alison Steadman's playing of Beverley, with comments from the original actors in the TV series and Peter York marvelling at her "paint-scraping" voice. --David Stubbs

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- We've all encountered a Beverley...
Watching this exquisitely funny and painfully true parade of suburban nightmares, I realised that I had met at least six 'Beverleys'. I had encountered the same pretentious, insensitive, overbearing, condescending and brutish mannerisms. Alison Steadman embodies the lot; an eyeball-searing vision in orange nylon with a voice that can scape wax out of your inner ear!

For much of the play, I laughed at Beverley's indulgent glee in 'welcoming' her guests and hectoring her husband. For the last twenty minutes, I was holding my hands to my face and muttering 'God, no! God, please no!' at every ghastly verbal brickbat and physical impasse. It makes me wonder if Ricky Gervais and his 'Office' crew had this on a loop. David Brent's manners ... Read More:

Rating:

- Mirror Mirror .......
This is quite deservedly a classic, despite the two negative reviews by "a customer". It is however excrutiating watching at times and purely because it is truly a mirror on not just the seventies warts and all, but on our society as still it is today. The only problem I have with this is that being a DVD it can be switched off when it becomes too skin crawlingly awful. Imagine the agony as an audience when you had to sit through it in a theatre unable to escape as it all unfolds in front of you. The seventies is merely a contemporary backdrop. This could be the year 2007 with a power dressing career woman inviting the new neighbours round to socially demolish them and establish the pecking order. An abject lesson in how not to behave in polite ... Read More:

Rating:

- A British gem to look at again and again
Something you could watch again and again and not really get tired of. Nowdays a staple as a drama school production and the lead role's a hot favourite of budding actresses. So yes, it has a slightly kitch cult status now, and I'm not one to share the tastes of clueless drama students usually, having known quite a few of them, but here for once, their judgment is sound. Everything else about it has been said by others really, it is a rightful classic, an extraordinarily direct satire on suburban vulgarity and uptight middle class types and their inability to get along with each other, and it doesn't pull its punches.

Rating:

- Stands the test of time
I hadn't seen this for quite a few years and was afraid it might have lost its impact but it hasn't. It's still just as toe-curling and awful, and hilarious, as it was back in the seventies. Steadman is the obvious star, with her incredible mannerisms and burly shoulders, but Janine Duvitski is almost as good as the drippy yet crass Angie who embarrasses her husband with every word.
Not much happens of course. Except at the end. Mostly it's just drinks being served and guests squirming, but the whole play is priceless.
As time goes by, the perfect 1970s set becomes all the more nostalgic, and this only adds to the appeal.
I was pleasantly surprised by the picture quality. Extras are limited to a short exerpt from a documentary about ... Read More:

Rating:

- Abigails Party Classic TV
This is an essential DVD purchase of the classic "play for today" series which was at its height in 1977 with "Abigails Party" the story lines are excellent and very funny and the classic 70's retro decor stunning in this play.If your forty or over have laugh and buy it, I remember it and I was only 11 so it has stayed with me all these years.

DVD : Abigail's Party (BBC) [1977]