Why it’s taken 37 years to finish off this party
For Alan Ward, directing Bench Theatre’s production of the classic play Abigail’s Party has been a long time coming – 37 years, in fact.
It is due on at The Spring Arts Centre in Havant from April 18-27.
But as Alan explains: “I had a foray many years ago into directing it for a previous group, but unfortunately the week it was meant to go on was the storm of 1987.
"We only had an old tin Nissen hut for our theatre and on opening night, a tree went right through the theatre roof and sliced it in half, so that production never went on.
“Since then, although
I've done many other productions either acting or directing, I just kept saying that it was unfinished business for me. I need to close the book on it and actually put it on!”
Created for both stage and television in 1977 by Mike Leigh, the play has become a modern classic. Alison Steadman’s monstrous Beverly is seared into the memory of everyone who ever saw it, and 16m did when it first aired on the BBC.
In a list of the ‘100 Greatest British Television Programmes’ drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, Abigail’s Party came 11th.
The Bench has turned out a gifted cast of comic actors, many of them well know to our audiences. They are under the direction of Alan Ward, whose past successes with the company include ‘Equus’ and ‘Death of a Salesman’.
Alan saw the original broadcast in November
1977, and says: “Having seen that, it was one of the plays that got me interested in theatre.”
He has previously directed Look Back in
Anger, Breaking the Code, Equus and Death of a Salesman for Bench, adding: “I've done a lot of acting in the past, but I prefer to be in the director's chair now!”
As to the play’s enduring appeal, he says: “The characters are so well written and, at the time he was writing, it was a bit of a snipe at the nouveau riche by Mike Leigh, and I think it still has some relevance to today.”
For tickets go to thespring.co.uk.