By Mike Leigh. Presented By Melbourne Theatre Company, 2018.

You’re invited to the suburban drinks party from hell. Desperate-to impress Beverly and her staid real estate agent husband Laurence are the hosts. The guests are their neighbours – eager-to-please nurse Angela with her bully-boy husband Tony, and divorcee Susan who’s steering clear of her daughter Abigail’s own party down the road. Over cheese and pineapple sticks, Demis Roussos records and copious amounts of alcohol, we witness one disastrous evening of social awkwardness, outrageous flirting, cringeworthy one-upmanship and hilarious put-downs.

UK doyen of stage and screen writing, Mike Leigh, wrote his most famous play Abigail’s Party 40 years ago, but this undisputed classic has lost none of its acerbic wit and biting satire. In fact, in this age of bold aspiration and excessive consumption, it gains new relevance. Riotously funny and disturbingly compelling, Abigail’s Party is an iconic piece of theatre, every bit as cutting as it ever was.

Nicolazzo's Melbourne Theatre Company debut was a commercial hit, taking in over $1.2 million in box office. Critics and audiences alike praised the bold camp approach to the material and the cast were uniformly celebrated. It played from the 17 March- 21 April, 2018, in the Sumner Theatre at Southbank.

With: Pip Edwards, Dan Frederikson, Katherine Tonkin, Benjamin Rigby and Zoe Boesen.

DIirector: Stephen Nicolazzo
Writer: Mike Leigh
Set Design: Anna Cordingley
Costume Design: Eugyeene Teh
Lighting Design: Katie Sfetkidis
Sound Design: Daniel Nixon

★★★★ "Set in a garish, ‘70s, orange shag pile conversation pit (Anna Cordingley), Stephen Nicolazzo’s production of this audacious tragicomedy highlights the grotesquerie of Leigh’s characters as they embarrass themselves, and humiliate, bully or seduce each other. Hilarious, uncomfortable and depressingly familiar in its depiction of ugly suburbia that seems to have changed little in four decades.” Kate Herbert, Herald Sun

★★★★ "This production does Mike Leigh’s play justice with a pitch perfect cast..Abigail’s Party is a compelling snapshot of personal and social anxiety in 1970s England, but its characters are so distinctive, so identifiable (I suspect there’s a little Beverly, Laurence, Angela, Tony or Sue in us all) that it will surely never date. This MTC production avoids falling into the trap of relying on the era’s ghastly particularities too heavily, instead showcasing these characters’ problematic relationships and inner crises.” Patricia Maunder, Limelight Magazine