"We all know a Beverley," said Nancy Durrant in The Times. The "magnificent monster" at the heart of Mike Leigh's "savage 1970s satire of the aspirational middle classes" has "never gone away".
More than four decades since "Abigail's Party" premiered at Hampstead Theatre, Nadia Fall's revival of the hit play has opened at Stratford East. Taking on the role of Beverley is a "mesmerising" Tamzin Outhwaite, who is hosting a dinner party alongside her estate agent husband Laurence (Kevin Bishop) to welcome their new "younger, less wealthy" neighbours, Angela and Tony, to the area. Really it's an opportunity for the older couple to flaunt their bigger house – a "glorious orange riot" designed by Peter McKintosh.
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Fall has "hardly tweaked" the production, except for casting two British Asian actors in the roles of Angela and Tony: a "brilliant touch" that adds another layer to Laurence's "snide" comments about the area becoming more "cosmopolitan".
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